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10 Creative Writing Activities That Help Students Tell Their Stories

Lower the stakes and help them get started.

“I don’t have a story. There’s nothing interesting about my life!” Sound familiar? I don’t know a teacher who hasn’t heard students say this. When we ask our students to write about themselves, they get stuck. We know how important it is for them to tell their own stories. It’s how we explore our identities and keep our histories and cultures alive. It can even be dangerous when we don’t tell our stories (check out this Ted Talk given by novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and share it with your students for more on that). Storytelling is essential for every subject, not just English Language Arts; students dive deeper and engage when they practice thinking about how their own stories intersect with historical events, civic engagement, and the real-world implications of STEM. These 10 creative writing activities can work in every subject you teach:

Here are 10 of our favorite story telling activities that inspire students:

1. write an “i am from” poem.

Students read the poem “I am From” by George Ella Lyon. Then, they draft a poem about their own identity in the same format Lyon used. Finally, students create a video to publish their poems. We love this one because the mentor text gives a clear structure and example that students can follow. But the end result is truly unique, just like their story.

2. Design a social media post to share an important memory

How can you use your unique perspective to tell a story? We want our students to learn that they are truly unique and have stories that only they can tell that other people want to hear or could relate to or learn from. In this activity, students watch two Pixar-in-a-Box videos on Khan Academy to learn about storytelling and perspective. Then, they identify an interesting or poignant memory and design a social media post.

3. Create an image using a line to chart an emotional journey

How do you show emotion using a single line? In this activity, students watch a Pixar in a Box video on Khan Academy to learn about how lines communicate character, emotion, and tension. Then they experiment with these aspects as they write their story. We love using this for pre-writing and to help students explore their story arc. Also, for students who love to draw or learn visually, this can help them get started telling their story and show them that there are many different ways to tell a story.

4. Tell the story behind your name

Sharing the story behind our name is a way to tell a story about ourselves, our culture, and our family history. And if there isn’t a story behind it, we can talk about how we feel about it and describe what it sounds like. In this activity, students use video to introduce themselves to their classmates by discussing the origin of their name. This project asks students to connect their names (and identities) to their personal and familial histories and to larger historical forces. If you’re looking for a mentor text that pairs well with this one, try “My Name” by Sandra Cisneros .

5. Develop a visual character sketch

Give students the time to create a character sketch of themselves. This will help them see how they fit into their story. In this lesson, students create a visual character sketch. They’ll treat themselves like a character and learn to see themselves objectively.

6. Create a webpage to outline the story of your movie

Building a story spine is a great way to show students how to put the parts of their story in an order that makes sense. It’s an exercise in making choices about structure. We like this activity because it gives students a chance to see different examples of structure in storytelling. Then, they consider the question: how can you use structure to set your story up for success? Finally, they design and illustrate an outline for their story.

7. Respond to a variety of writing prompts

Sometimes our students get stuck because they aren’t inspired or need a different entry point into telling their story. Give them a lot of writing prompts that they can choose from. Pass out paper and pencils. Set a timer for fifteen minutes. Then, write 3-4 writing prompts on the board. Encourage students to free-write and not worry about whether their ideas are good or right. Some of our favorite prompts to encourage students to tell their story are:

• I don’t know why I remember…
• What’s your favorite place and why?
• What objects tell the story of your life?
• What might surprise someone to learn about you?

8. Create a self-portrait exploring identity and self-expression

Part of what makes writing your own story so difficult for students is that they are just building their identity. In this activity, students explore how they and others define their identity. What role does identity play in determining how they are perceived and treated by others? What remains hidden and what is shown publicly?

9. Film a video to share an important story from your life

Encourage students to think about how to tell the story of a day they faced their fears. Students consider the question: How can you use different shot types to tell your story? They watch a video from Pixar in a Box on Khan Academy to learn about different camera shots and their use in storytelling. Then, they use Adobe Spark Post or Photoshop and choose three moments from their story to make into shots. We love using this to help students think about pace and perspective. Sometimes what we leave out of our story is just as important as what we include.

10. Try wild writing

Laurie Powers created a process where you read a poem and then select two lines from it. Students start their own writing with one of those lines. Anytime that they get stuck, they repeat their jump-off line again. This is a standalone activity or a daily writing warm-up, and it works with any poem. We love how it lowers the stakes. Can’t think of anything to write? Repeat the jump-off line and start again. Here are some of our favorite jump-off lines:

• The truth is…
• Some people say…
• Here’s what I forgot to tell you…
• Some questions have no answers…
• Here’s what I’m afraid to write about…

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51 Creative Writing Activities For The Classroom: Comics, Prompts, Games, And Pretend Play

January 4, 2024 //  by  Milka Kariuki

Creative writing can be tough for learners of any age. From knowing where to start to establishing the vocabulary to develop their story, there are a bunch of different skills they’ll need to perfect their creative writing pieces. There are so many creative writing activities out there, but which ones are best for your kiddos? Our list of 51 creative writing activities is the perfect place to start looking if you’ve got a creative writing unit coming up! Read on and see which ones might grab your little writers’ attention!

1. Make Your Own Comic Books

We bet your kiddos just love comic books! Let them create their very own in the style of the super popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid books! Encourage your students to come up with their own plot, dialogue, and illustrations to spark their creativity. Even your most reluctant writers will love this fun activity! 

Learn More: Puffin Schools

2. Mad Libs

Using Mad Libs is a super popular way to develop your little creative writers! Use these free printables to get their creative juices flowing as they try to come up with words to fill the gaps to create weird and wonderful new stories. The best thing is that you can use these printables as many times as you like as their answers will be different each time!

Learn More: Teacher Vision

3. Flash Fiction

Flash fiction is a fantastic way to get your kiddies writing creatively while keeping things short and sweet! Use the range you prompts included in this resource to challenge them to write a creative story in less than 100 words. Flash fiction is amazing because your students won’t be overwhelmed by a huge writing task and it also means that your more confident writers will need to focus on the quality of their work, not the quantity! 

Learn More: TES

4. Write a Story Based on the Ending

Test your students’ creativity by providing them with writing prompts that start at the end! In backward story writing, your budding writers will need to plan and pen a story that eventually leads to the ending you give them. This idea is a fantastic way to turn your traditional creative writing lesson on its head and in many ways take the pressure off your kids, as ending their stories is often the most difficult part for them!

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

5. Found Poetry

Your learners will love this fun and creative found poetry activity. You can encourage them to collect words or a group of words from a favorite story or song then write them on a piece of paper or cut them out of a printed page. The overall goal is to have them rearrange the words differently to make an interesting poem with a unique writing style or genre!

Learn More: Homeschooling Ideas

6. Picture Dictionary

A picture dictionary is a brilliant way to support every member of your younger elementary class in their creative writing. The words paired with pictures give your writers a ‘dictionary’ that they can use pretty independently, so your less confident writers or non-native English-speaking students can still access your writing lessons! 

Learn More: Twinkl

7. Creative Journal Writing

Why not start a creative journal with your kiddos? Have them engage in daily journaling activities by giving them a different creative prompt each day. For instance, write a story about what would happen if dogs took over the world or what would you do if you were the security guard at a zoo and someone stole an animal? The fun is never-ending with these prompts!  

Learn More: Think Written  

8. Roll a Story

Roll-a-Story is one of the best ways to help any of your kids who are suffering from a bout of writer’s block! They’ll roll the dice to discover the character, setting, and problem for their story then set to work weaving their creative tale! It could be a story about a wise doctor being chased by a mysterious creature in a casino, or maybe a rich artist losing their wallet in a library. Then it’s up to your students to fill in the gaps!

Learn More: TPT

9. Pass-it-on Story Writing

There’s no telling quite where this fun writing game will end up! Start by writing the first sentence of a story on a piece of paper then pass it around your class, having your kids come up with a sentence that continues the story. The paper is then passed around the whole class until every student has contributed. Finally, once it makes its way back to you, read out your collaborative story to the whole class!

Learn More: Minds In Bloom

10. Picture Writing Prompts

Creative writing prompts activities test not only your little ones’ imaginations but also their ability to craft a story and dialogue from that. Display an intriguing picture prompt for your class and have a discussion about it, recording their ideas. You could discuss what the person or animal in the picture is doing or what they’re thinking, where they think the picture was taken, and much more. They can use your collective notes to inspire their story!

Learn More: Pandora Post

11. What’s the Question?

What’s the Question is a simple, yet super engaging game that requires your young learners to think creatively. Spark their creativity by writing an answer on the whiteboard such as “the moon would explode,” and task your kiddos with coming up with a question to match it. There’ll be lots of laughs as everyone shares what they came up with!

Learn More: That Afterschool Life

12. Creative Writing Printables

This website is absolutely full of quick and fun graphics for children that’ll encourage their creative writing! The cute graphics and simple directions make it an easy bellringer activity for your writing class. Just print out some of these cool sheets and let your students get creative as they write thank-you notes to helpful heroes or finish little cartoon comics!

Learn More: Jarrett Lerner

13. Paint Chip Poetry

Nothing says creative writing quite like figurative language! Grab some of these free paint swatches from your local home improvement store and have your students create metaphors about their chosen color! We love this low-prep activity as once your kids have finished their poems, they’re a ready-made multi-colored display that’ll brighten the walls of your classroom! 

Learn More: Fabulous In Fifth

14. Story Storm Activities

Once again, these Jarrett Lerner activities do not disappoint! Your students will have a blast pretending they are the principal for a day and they’ll get to create their very own rules for the school. Not only will this be an engaging writing exercise that we’re sure they’ll love getting creative with, but it also challenges children to think about why rules in school are important.

Learn More: Tara Lazar

15. Story Bag

Story bags are a fantastic way to destroy any kind of writer’s block! Grab an assortment of random objects from your home or classroom and pop them into the story bag. Next, gather your students around and pull out all the objects in the bag. Can they then write a story connecting all the items? Be sure to leave time to let them share their stories at the end of the lesson!

Learn More: Life Hack

16. Change the Ending

An easy way to ease your kiddos into the writing process is by having them rewrite part of a story. Grab their favorite read-aloud, and challenge them to come up with a new ending! They’ll need to finish the story in a way that makes sense, but aside from that, they can be as creative as they like! Your reluctant readers will like this one as much of the work on setting and characters has already been done! 

Learn More: Make Beliefs Comix

17. Plot Twist Writing Prompts

BUT WAIT – there’s a twist…This fun writing practice is perfect for older middle or high school but could also be simplified for younger students. Write these twist prompts on notecards and have your kids draw one each before letting them go off and write a story around their chosen twist! They’ll be eager to share their finished work with classmates at the end. After all, who doesn’t love a good plot twist?

Learn More: Pinterest

18.  Craft Box Craft

Every kid loves the book The Day the Crayons Quit for its creative narrative about this familiar box of coloring supplies! This extension activity rolls art and creative writing into one! Your students will have fun coming up with dialogue for each of the different crayons and you could even make it into a fun display for your classroom walls!

Learn More: Buggy And Buddy

19. Dialogue Pictures

Personalizing writing activities always makes it more engaging for kids! Print out a picture of yourself with a blank speech bubble, and model how to add in some dialogue. Then, let your kiddos practice speech bubbling with a photo of themselves, a pet, or a favorite celebrity, and have them come up with some interesting things for each of their subjects to say!

Learn More: SSS Teaching

20. Figurative Language Tasting

Your students will be creative writers in no time after practicing their figurative language with food tasting! Not only do tasty treats make this activity incredibly fun, but it also brings the writing process of metaphors and hyperbole to life. Just give each of your kids a few pieces of candy or snacks, and have them practice writing figures of speech relating to each one! They’ll have the words on the tip of their tongue- literally! 

Learn More: It’s Lit Teaching

21. Explode the Moment

One of my favorite writing concepts as a teacher is ‘exploding the moment’. This method is perfect for showing your kiddies that even the smallest moment can be turned into an imaginative, descriptive story! Start by having them brainstorm some ideas and expand on tiny memories like losing a tooth, getting a pet, or making a winning goal in a soccer game!

Learn More: Raise The Bar Reading

22. Round-Robin Storytelling

Round-robin storytelling is the perfect collaborative creative writing activity! This one can be done verbally or in writing, and it challenges your class to build a story using a given set of words. They’ll have a fun and challenging time figuring out how to incorporate each piece into one cohesive story.

Learn More: Random Acts Of Kindness

23. Acrostic Poems

Acrostic poetry is one of the least intimidating creative writing exercises as there are no rules other than starting each line with the letter from a word. Challenge your kiddies to use each letter in their name to write lines of poetry about themselves, or they could choose to write about their favorite food or animal!

Learn More: Surfin’ Through Second

24. Sentence Sticks

This exercise requires minimal prep and can be used in so many different ways. All you’ll need are some craft sticks in which you will write sentences with blanks and word banks. Your young writers can then pull a stick and fill in the blanks to practice creative thinking! Task them with a different goal each time; can they make the sentence silly or sad for example?

Learn More: Liz’s Early Learning Spot

25. Conversation Prompts

These fun prompts require your kids to think creatively and answer a range of interesting questions. They’ll be excited to write stories about waking up with a mermaid tail or describe what is in a mystery package delivered to their doorstep! These creative prompts are perfect for bellringers or transitions throughout the school day!

Learn More: Twitter

26. Pretend Play Writing

Do you remember playing with fake money and fake food when you were younger? This idea takes it a step further by incorporating some writing practice! All you’ll have to do is print the templates for dollars, shopping lists, and recipes then let your little learners have fun with these play-pretend writing ideas!

Learn More: Prekinders

27. Question Cubes

Your class will be on a roll with these amazing question cubes! Whether the cubes are used for responding to a story, brainstorming the plot of a story, or practicing speech and listening, they are an easy, affordable tool for your little readers and writers! You can snag some foam dice at the dollar store and hot glue questions on each side to spark some creative writing ideas for your class.

Learn More: A Love 4 Teaching

28. Balderdash

Not only is Balderdash an addicting board game, but it can even be used in the classroom! Your little learners will have a blast as they create made-up, imaginative definitions for words, important people, and dates. Whoever guesses the real answer out of the mix wins the points!

Learn More: EB Academics

29. Two Sentence Horror Story

This creative writing exercise is best for older students and would be a great one to try out around Halloween! You’ll be challenging your learners to write a story that runs chills up their readers’ spines, but there’s a twist…the story can only be two sentences long! Your kiddos will love writing and sharing their writing to see who can come up with the spookiest short story!

30. Telephone Pictionary

Another game that your kids will be begging to play over and over again is telephone pictionary! The first player will write down a random phrase, and the next person must draw their interpretation of the phrase. The third player will write what they think the picture is and so on!

Learn More: Imagine Forest

31. Consequences

You need at least two players for this fun creative writing game. Each pair or group of kids will start by having one person write a random phrase and conceal it by folding the paper. Then, they pass it to the next student to fill in the blank using the prompt. Once all the blanks are filled in, let them unfold the paper and get ready to reveal some seriously silly stories!

32. Story Wands

​​Story wands are a fun way to have your kids respond to stories and study what makes something their favorite. Responding to what they’re reading is a super helpful exercise in preparing them for creative writing as it allows your students to connect to their favorite stories. By figuring out what elements make stories great, this is sure to help them in their own creative writing assignments!

Learn More: Little Lifelong Learners

33. The Best Part of Me

Probably my favorite creative writing activity, this one is infused with social-emotional learning and self-esteem building! Let your students get to choose their favorite physical characteristics about themselves; whether it be their eyes, hands, feet, etc. Then, they take a picture to attach to their written reasoning! Make sure to boost the creative element of this writing task by encouraging your learners to use a bunch of adjectives and some figurative language!

Learn More: Sarah Gardner Teaching

34. Me From A-Z

Challenge your kiddos to get creative by coming up with 26 different words to describe themselves! Me From A-Z gives your students the opportunity to explore who they are by coming up with words describing them in some way using each letter of the alphabet. Why not let them decorate their lists and turn them into a display celebrating the uniqueness of each of your class members?

35. How to Make Hot Chocolate

How-to writing is a great way to get the creative writing wheels turning in your kiddies’ brains! They’ll have a fun time coming up with their instructions and ways to explain how to make hot chocolate! Do they have a secret recipe that’ll make the best-ever hot cocoa!? Once they’ve written their instructions, be sure to try them out and do a taste-test of their recipes!

Learn More: Teacher Mama

36. Give Yourself a Hand

Hands up if you love this idea! For this creative writing activity, have your little ones trace their hand on a piece of paper and decorate it with accessories. Then, encourage them to write a list of all the different things they do with their hands all over their tracing! This is a great warm-up to get the creative gears turning.

Learn More: Write Now Troup

37. Word Picture Poem

A word picture poem is a fantastic way to challenge your kids to write descriptive poetry about a common object! Your little poets will learn to find beauty in ordinary things and strengthen their sensory language skills and their vocabulary. For some added fun, you can even task them with writing a short story about the item as well! The results are sure to be fun to read!

Learn More: Teaching With Terhune

38. Shape Poem

Shape poems are some of the most creative poetry as they combine words and art into one! First, your young poets can choose an object to use as their muse and lightly trace an outline onto some paper. Then, they’ll write words along the outlined shape in the form of a poem that describes the object! The result is a bunch of fun and striking poems that’ll look great displayed around your classroom!

39. Crazy Hair Poetry

Here’s another one that combines writing and art! Start by guiding your kiddos in drawing a self-portrait then adding some crazy hair by blowing watercolor paints around! After the paint dries, have your kids come up with a short but creative poem describing their hair art.

Learn More: Grade School Giggles

40. Fingerprint Poetry

Nothing is more creative than getting your kiddies to let down the barriers in their mind and tap into their stream of consciousness! Show them how to pick a topic and then let their words flow straight from mind to paper in a swirling pattern. This fingerprint idea can be used for a get-to-know-you activity as well!

Learn More: Kristen Dembroski

41. Doggie Haiku Poems

Put a fun twist on classic haiku poetry! Your students will have a paw-some time writing three-line poems about dogs which they can then illustrate afterwards! Before starting the activity, you can use Dogku by Andrew Clements as a read-aloud to get your class hooked on this idea!

Learn More: Teaching Fourth

42. Fractured Fairy Tale

Ever wondered if the Big Bad Wolf was framed? Or if Sleeping Beauty was actually a snorer? Your writers in training will have a fun time taking a classic fairytale and putting their own spin on it! Following five simple steps, your kids will be funky fairytale authors in no time!

43. Letter Writing

These creative letter-writing prompts are sure to boost your kiddies’ imaginative writing skills! Whether writing to a pen pal or a favorite celebrity, letter writing is a great way to practice handwriting, word flow, descriptive language, and communicating all rolled into one! Have your writers grab their pencils and let the creativity flow as they write fun response letters to these prompts!

44. Hersey’s Kisses Similes

Teach sensory language and similes by connecting this tasty treat with the sense of taste! Your students will have a lovely time brainstorming how chocolate connects to each of our senses and applying that knowledge by writing some sweet similies! What a fantastic way to teach them how to use these essential creative writing tools!

Learn More: Teacher By The Beach

45. Sensory Poetry

Another great way to teach sensory details is to have your learners write poems about their favorite foods! Task them with writing a line for each sense to describe the food! Everyone will be hungry after this creative writing lesson so it might be a good idea to have some snacks on hand!

Learn More: Mrs. Tice’s Class

46. Season Personification

Each season of weather has an array of characteristics making this the perfect activity to practice personification in creative writing! Allow your little writers to choose a season to write about as if it were a person with human characteristics. Winter is a no-brainer! It’s Elsa!

Learn More: Write Shop

47. Class Book of Character Traits

To be creative writers, your kids need to know how to create realistic characters for their stories. For this class book, you’ll start by giving each student two opposing character traits. Next, have them demonstrate these traits by illustrating two characters and displaying them through dialogue!

Learn More: Crafting Connections

48. Socialgrams

With Instagram being all the rage these days, your kiddos will have a fun time creating a ‘socialgram’ on paper! Challenge them to create a descriptive and engaging caption to go along with their “photo” in the post. Then, classmates can comment on each other’s work! 

Learn More: Breezy Special Ed

49. Story Introduction Worksheets

Creative writing worksheets are a simple, minimal-prep tool to use in your creative writing units. Print out a variety of options, and have your kids practice their skills by finishing imaginative story introductions. By giving them a place to start their story, you can really take the pressure off your kids which will help ease them into the creative writing process!

Learn More: Lanternfish ESL

50. Dialogue Worksheets

Here’s another low-prep option for the last-minute planners! Pre-written dialogue can help guide the mood of the story and allow your kiddies to just focus on filling in the characters’ actions. This is also a great way to model how dialogue is spaced out and balanced in a story!

Learn More: ESL Writing Worksheets

51. Character Trait Posters

In this personalized character trait activity, your students will create a poster of themselves and label it with a bunch of different character traits. Descriptive, interesting characters are what make a story captivating, so this is a great introduction to understanding characters and their physical as well as personality traits! This is an activity that’s sure to help them build a strong foundation for their creative writing skills to build from!

Learn More: Life In First Grade

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22 Writing Activities To Help Kids Hone Their Writing Skills

Written by Maria Kampen

Prodigy English is here! Get your students playing — and learning — today.

Fun writing activities

Creative writing activities, academic writing activities, at-home writing activities, daily writing activities, simple writing prompts for kids.

• How writing activities can bring reluctant writers out of their shells

Try some other educational activities

When kids start writing, they’re unlocking a whole new world of imagination to explore. It’s a great way for them to be creative, express themselves and practice key reading and writing skills. 

But as most kids — and adults — will tell you, writing is hard! It can be intimidating to put pen to paper for the first time, and sometimes the challenge of a blank page seems like too much to overcome. 

Writing shouldn’t be scary for kids. These 22 fun writing activities can help them:

• Use their imagination
• Think up new stories and ideas
• Share their writing with friends and family

Use them in your classroom or at home to get kids excited about writing!

Writing is supposed to be fun! Use these activities to help kids stretch their imagination and record their thoughts on paper in a fun, low-stress environment.

1. Try online ELA games like Prodigy English

Great for: Grades 1 to 6

Online games are a great way to engage students in the learning process — and Prodigy English is bringing the power of game-based learning to language and reading skill practice!

As students build and create, they’re always practicing key reading and language skills that help them write clearly and effectively. Every correct answer gives players more energy to gather resources, complete daily tasks and earn Wishcoins.

Plus, you can send questions about the topics you want them to practice and collect insights about their learning.

2. Poetry scavenger hunt

Great for: Middle and high school students

Words are all around us, so encourage your students to take inspiration from the real-life writing they see every day. Have students collect printed words and phrases from the world around them, including:

• Magazine ads
• Graphic novels
• Newspaper headlines
• Social media captions

Students can collect and arrange their words on a piece of paper to make a unique piece of poetry. Encourage them to find a key idea and expand on it in creative ways, then have students share their work with the class. 

3. Create your own comic strip

Great for: Grades 4 to 10

Students learn in all sorts of ways. For visual learners, creating a comic strip to accompany their story can help them express themselves in a visual medium. 

Give students a set number of panels and challenge them to come up with a quick story — just a few sentences. Then, they can illustrate their scene in the style of comic books. 

Remind students the point isn’t to be the best artist — it’s to write a story that’s short and exciting. 

4. Create your own Madlib

Great for: Elementary and middle school students

Give students vocabulary practice and help them write a silly story at the same time!

Fill a sheet with the outline of the story, then remove key words like:

For younger students, add a word bank to get them started. As students fill in words, they’ll craft a unique story filled with unexpected twists and turns.

Once students start getting in the habit of writing, these creative writing activities can pull new ideas out of their heads and encourage them to experiment with different genres. 

5. Acrostics

Great for: Grades 3 to 8

Acrostic poems are a great way to introduce your students to poetry! Start with a meaningful word or name and use it as a theme for the poem. 

Writing the word vertically, students can go down the letters and write a short word or phrase that starts with each letter. Acrostic poems help students write within a structure and theme, so it’s easier for them to get started. 

6. A letter to your future self

Great for: Middle school and high school

Where do your students see themselves in a year? Five years? Ten years?

A letter to their future selves is a great way for students to explore their own story, and brainstorm what they want to achieve. Not only can students practice their letter-writing skills, they can use their imaginations to develop a growth mindset . 

For extra nostalgia, store the letters for students and mail them out once the right amount of time has passed. 

7. Write a “Choose your own adventure” story

Great for: Grades 5 and up

Whether it’s a fairy tale, detective story or drama, chances are you’ve had a student tell you they don’t know how their story is supposed to end. 

A “Choose-your-own-adventure” story lets students brainstorm different storylines and endings. Once they’re done, encourage them to share their stories with the class so their peers can go on the adventure too.

8. Write a fake advertisement

Great for: Grades 6 and up

Good writing doesn’t just happen in books — it’s all around us!

Whether students are writing advertisements on their own or as part of a project-based learning assignment , this activity helps them build key media literacy skills and practice their snappy storytelling. 

Have students make up a new product and advertisement, or encourage them to re-imagine an ad for something they love. It’s also a great way to bring media literacy and interdisciplinary learning to your classroom. 

9. Make a story map

Great for: Grades 2 to 8

Not every student is going to be comfortable putting pen to paper right away. Story maps can help students brainstorm details like plot, characters and setting in a way that makes sense for visual learners. 

Have students use charts to set out the beginning, middle and end of their stories. Mind maps can also help them plot out details about their characters or setting. 

Encourage students to present their story map as a finished product or use it to start writing!

Writing isn’t all fairy tales and short stories — it’s also an important part of learning in middle school, high school and college. Use these academic writing activities to help students understand proper essay structure, grammar and more. 

10. Story chains

Great for: Grades 4 to 8

Stories are better when they’re enjoyed with friends and classmates. And story chains encourage every student to get involved!

Put students in small groups of three to six. Give each student a blank piece of paper and have them write the beginning of a story. Then, pass it to the next student in the group so they can write what happens next. 

For extra educational value, have students work together to summarize a story from your lesson or an important historical event. 

11. Persuasive essays

Sometimes writing is about more than just telling a story. It’s about convincing your readers of your point of view. 

Have older students practice their debate skills with persuasive essays. Start with a prompt, then let students make their case. Some of our favorite prompts for this writing assignment include:

• Is it more important to be right or to not hurt someone else’s feelings?
• What important historical figure do you think belongs on the ten-dollar bill and why?
• Do you think you’re born with your personality traits, or do you gain them as you grow up?

Most importantly, make sure students back up their opinions with solid facts and arguments that convince readers to care. 

12. Solve a real-world problem

Great for: Grade 6 and up

Climate change, litter, bullying, bad cafeteria food — no matter what students pick, there are lots of real-world problems for them to solve. 

Challenge students with a writing assignment that addresses a problem they see in their world. How would they fix it? Whether it’s a short paragraph or a longer essay, encourage them to find something they’re passionate about. After all, that’s where good writing comes from!

13. Vocabulary challenge

Great for: Elementary school students

Vocabulary challenges combine vocabulary strategies with student writing to make your next language arts lesson plan even more engaging. 

Give students a new word (or two or three). Once you’re done practicing it and they know what it means, challenge them to use it in a story as creatively as possible. 

14. Teach citations

Great for: Grades 1 to 12

Footnotes, endnotes and bibliographies are the least exciting part of writing, but they’re essential skills. As students write more complex research papers, they need to know how to give credit where credit is due. Thankfully, there are lots of online resources to help!

The Purdue Online Writing Lab offers teachers and students resources for all stages of the writing process, including citations. To practice, students can write an annotated bibliography as part of a project-based learning assignment or the first step in writing a longer research paper. 

Writing isn’t just something happening in the classroom. These at-home writing ideas can help you support your child as they experiment with prose and poetry.

15. Write letters to a pen pal

Great for: Grades 3 and up

Everyone likes getting mail! Got a friend with kids in a different part of the country, or far-away family members? A pen pal can be a great way for kids to build friendships and practice their writing skills at the same time. 

16. Bring a home object to life

“It’s as big as a mountain!”

“That’s the fluffiest thing I’ve ever felt!”

The ways kids describe things can crack us up sometimes. Full of wonder and hyperbole, it’s the perfect spark for creative writing, too.

Encourage kids to practice their figurative language skills with a description of something in your home. Let them pack as much alliteration and exaggeration into the description as they can, then do a dramatic reading out loud.  

17. Write reading reactions

If you want to boost reading comprehension and writing skills at the same time, this is the perfect activity. After your child is done reading, encourage them to write a few sentences about what they just read. 

Did they like it? What do they think happens next? Which character was their favorite and why? Learning how to express opinions in writing is a valuable skill. 

18. Document family stories

Great for: Grades 4 and up

Every family has a unique story, including yours. Make memories with your child when you share stories about important family events or your childhood. 

Kids can even interview grandparents, aunts and uncles to record their memories. When you’re done, store them in a shared space so everyone can go back and reminisce.

Writing is a muscle, and you have to flex it every day to get stronger. Use these daily writing activities to make writing part of your everyday routine. 

19. Journaling

Great for: Everyone

Sometimes, you’ve just gotta write it out. 

Whether you’re trying to make sense of life or just need a place to organize your thoughts, journaling is a great way to unwind, practice mindfulness and build social emotional skills . 

All kids need to get started is a notebook and a pen. Let them know you’re not going to read it, but they’re welcome to come to you if there’s something they want to talk about. 

20. Blog about your interests

Great for: High school and up

Everyone’s passionate about something. Whatever your students love, encourage them to share it with the world! Blogging is an accessible and fun way to express themselves, nerd out about the things that bring them joy and share their opinions with the world. 

Sites like WordPress and Wix offer free website builders to help students get started. This is a great way for kids to build computer skills and digital literacy .

21. Free writing

Write, write, write and don’t stop. That’s the premise behind free writing, a writing practice that can help unlock creativity, discover new ideas and take the pressure out of a blank page. 

Give students a five-minute timer and challenge them to write continuously, without worrying about formatting, spelling or grammar. They can write about whatever they want, but there’s only one rule: don’t stop. 

22. Answer daily writing prompts

Make time to exercise your brain with daily writing prompts! At the start of the day or as a quick brain break , set aside time for students to respond to a quick daily writing prompt. 

Students should have a dedicated journal or binder to make it a seamless part of your lessons. Whether or not you choose to read their writing is up to you, but it’s important to build good daily habits. 

A blank page can be a scary sight for a student who doesn’t know what to write about. 

Use writing prompts to:

• Kickstart a student’s imagination
• Start your lesson with a fun writing activity
• Give students a topic to debate in writing

Some of our favorite simple writing prompts include:

• Write a story about a wooden door, a can of soda and a blue shoe. 
• If you met a monster looking for new friends, what would you do?
• What’s your favorite season? What makes it the best?
• If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
• Describe your dream birthday cake. 
• Write a story about being cold without using the word “cold.”
• If you could decorate your bedroom any way you wanted, what would it look like?
• Is it better to have lots of friends or just a few really good friends?
• Write a story in 10 words or less.
• Write a story about the best surprise you’ve ever received. 

For more writing prompts you can use in and out of the classroom, check out our full list of 225 writing prompts for kids .

Writing activities can bring reluctant writers out of their shells

Writing is hard and can be intimidating for a lot of students. 

But even the quietest and most reluctant students have lots of stories to tell! You just have to encourage them to get their words out. 

Writing activities help remove some of the pressure and give students:

• A fun way to approach writing 
• A starting point for their stories
• Chances to share their writing with students

No two stories are the same, just like your students. Every story can start in a different way, and that’s the beauty of writing prompts.

Whether it’s writing activities or math problems, there are lots of ways to get reluctant learners excited about your lessons with educational activities. 

Here are some of our favorites:

• 37 Quick & Easy Brain Breaks for Kids
• 30 Virtual School Activities Students & Educators Love  
• 27 Best Educational Games for Kids to Play Sorted by Subject  
• 15 Geometry Activities to Engage Students Across Grade Levels
• 36 Fun Word Games for Kids To Help with Vocabulary & Literacy
• 15 Fun, Free & Effective Multiplication Games For Your Classroom
• 20 Exciting Math Games for Kids to Skyrocket New Math Skills On-The-Go
• 21 Classroom Games to Boost Teacher Effectiveness and Student Learning
• 25 Social Emotional Learning Activities & How They Promote Student Well-Being

Which ones can you use in your next lesson?

Prodigy English is a brand-new game-based learning platform helping students build key math skills. As students explore and build a world of their very own, they’ll answer curriculum-aligned reading and language questions that help build essential skills and encourage a love of learning. 

Sign up for your free teacher account and get access to teacher tools that help you differentiate learning and track student progress as they play.

20 Creative Writing Activities for Elementary Students

• November 23, 2021

Did you know that November is National Novel Writing Month? While your young learners are probably not ready to write an entire book, this month is a great time to practice creative writing skills with your students. Not only can creative writing be helpful for teaching vocabulary and sentence structure, but it can also encourage students to use imaginative thinkin g —and even find a genuine love of writing!

All of these 20 creative writing activities can be used with elementary school students to practice reading and writing skills. We’ve included options for both early elementary students, who may still be learning to write, and elementary students in upper grades who are ready to work on projects of their choosing.

1. Join the NaNoWriMo organization’s Young Writers Program (YWP) ! Together, your students can work on all sorts of age-appropriate writing challenges and activities throughout the year—including a project of their choice in November!

2. To practice pre-writing skills and collaborating on a project, try these shared writing project activities .

3. If you have any budding cartoonists in your class, this Finish the Comic activity from author Jarrett Lerner can be a great way for younger students to practice writing dialogue.

4. Teach your students about adjectives and writing descriptions with this Popcorn Adjectives activity .

5. Students can learn about creative writing by studying imagery and poetry by established authors. Using this writing worksheet , kids can write out their thoughts about a poem and draw images that stand out to them.

6. To teach creative thinking skills with kindergarteners and early elementary students, try this Mystery Seed writing activity .

7. Get families involved, too! Share these fun home writing activities with your student’s families to help them practice at home.

8. Print out and put together a Writing Jar with tons of creative writing prompts to inspire your students.

9. Check out this resource for even more writing prompts focused on imaginative thinking.

10. Try blackout poetry , an activity that encourages students to make their own beautiful art from a work that already exists.

11. Creative writing isn’t limited to fiction. This narrative writing activity can teach students to write events clearly and in sequence from their real life.

12. For a creative writing project that’s just plain fun, try this Roll a Story activity.

13. This nonfiction project helps children learn to write a letter as they write to a loved one of their choice.

14. If you want to give your students some freedom in choosing a writing assignment, hang up this Writing Prompt Choice Board in your classroom and let them answer whichever prompt they’d like!

15. Encourage students to keep their own journal throughout the year. You could even give them time each morning to respond to a journal prompt .

16. Use this journal page template to help students structure and compile journal entries.

17. These printable Mad Libs can teach children different parts of a sentence while they use their imaginations to create a story.

18. Use this What? So What? Now What? exercise (#6 at the link) to help students structure their creative writing projects.

19. To teach children how to create descriptive sentences, play this Show, Don’t Tell writing activity .

20. If you’d like to hold a month-long creative writing activity, try this 30-Day Writing Challenge for kids .

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Ten Creative Writing Activities Guaranteed To Inspire

These ten creative writing activities have enough variety for everyone. I use creative writing exercises to encourage young writers and have fun. 

Creative writing encompasses more than fictional writing. Creative nonfiction, braided essays, traveling writing, and blogging can all fit under the umbrella of “creative writing.” The activities matter: We language arts teachers want students to explore and find themselves. Previously, I’ve written about how my attitude as a creative writing teacher sets students on the path to seeing themselves as writers. A combined set of powerful activities and attitude can create a dynamic creative writing course.

I use creative writing exercises throughout the school year with survey classes, and I sprinkle these activities during a creative writing class. You can check out my bundle , but you can create variations of these with your own inspiration.

However you incorporate these, you and your students will have great discussions and final products.

Overview of Creative Writing Activities

As I look at the standards and consider the needs of students, I want all my young writers to feel inspired and confident in their abilities to create, to entertain, to participate to the tapestry of social storytelling.

No matter how you adjust these activities, you and your students will have fun with them.

How-to Paper

Students read tips from experts for basic life experiences. They have knowledge too! Shopping for a prom dress? Lifting weights for football? Interviewing for a job for the first time? Applying for college?

Students have a unique perspective to help others. Don’t make this paper is a “normal” step-by-step directions. Students will share their experiences and build confidence as writers. Capitalize on students’ experiences with this paper.

Alternative Point of View

You have seen this activity with various twists in teacher groups and on social media. Overall, students add “googly eyes” which is ALSO what most people call the activity. Students will adhere googly eyes (often on sale around Halloween) to an inanimate object and make the object into a person. Students adhere the eyes to smashed milk bottles, doors, and skeletons. They then create a character, write a poem, or any other fun activity.

I have students share the lesson that the object has learned. A marker among many other markers learns that it must take turns. I

Product Review

Reviewing products has become a genre on its own! Students will find a goofy product, write reviews for it, and write questions and answers for the product.

I use the banana slicer and milk . Other teachers have suggested the giant ball .

Character Creation

Provide students with a list of options for a character to have. Instead of seeing this activity as a “checklist,” encourage students to see the options as a brainstorming for a bigger character sketch.

I have used this activity at various times for fleshing out characters in a narrative. However, I often use this sheet as a one or two day writing assignment for students to create a character. As we close, students read their character sketch, and their peers draw and explain the character. The writer receives immediate feedback concerning the accuracy of the portrayal.

Food Poetry

Who wants to write about food? I have used food poetry in two ways! Students can write a poem about food, or you can randomly assign food for students to examine and then write about. Bringing in the food helps and makes for a fun class period.

This activity is perfect for focusing on figurative language, describing texture and taste, and thinking.

Object Essay

A pencil? A phone? Simple?—Nope! Students will examine an object and write about that object as they explain the object to an audience unfamiliar with the object.

Query Letter

Real authors query their work with a letter. This assignment will work with any other activity as students will explain why the work should be published.

The query letter is the perfect reflection piece. You can ask students to write a query letter about any assignment.

Flash Fiction

A super short story is not easy to create even though students might think that it is.

Flash fiction is short, but students must ensure that all components of a story are present. This activity is perfect for working on editing and revising because every word must count in flash fiction.

Plus, punctuation matters a great deal in flash fiction, so you can hit language standards too.

Children’s Book

Writing a children’s book is incredibly flexible because you can determine the length and the requirements (pictures, format). Students also understand the depth of children’s books by analyzing one.

You can grab inexpensive paper books at a dollar store, or students can create digital books.

Writing a profile is a difficult practice, and I often save this activity until the end of the semester. The process requires several stages, and writers must consider their subject from a unique angle. After students have worked with me for a few weeks, they understand the depth required in designing a profile. Students will practice interviewing and research skills while learning about a person. A profile requires that writers take an “approach” in telling their subject’s story. Students enjoy this creative nonfiction activity!

Actually, students enjoy all creative writing exercises because they can showcase their interesting beliefs and understandings of the world. They are flexible for grade and ability levels, so you can use them at various times.

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How to Use Creative Writing Prompts in Your Classroom: A Guide for Literature Teachers

Creative writing prompts are short sentences, questions, or scenarios that inspire you to write something. They can be used for various purposes, such as practicing your writing skills, expressing your thoughts and feelings, or exploring different genres and topics in literature. Creative writing prompts are also a great tool for literature teachers who want to spice up their classroom activities and engage their students in meaningful and enjoyable writing tasks. In this blog post, I will share with you some tips on how to use creative writing prompts in your classroom, and how they can benefit your students’ learning and development.

Why Use Creative Writing Prompts?

Creative writing prompts have many advantages for both teachers and students. Here are some of the benefits of using creative writing prompts in your classroom:

• They spark your students’ imagination and curiosity. Creative writing prompts can help your students to break free from the boredom and routine of academic writing, and to unleash their creativity and originality. They can also help your students to discover new ideas, perspectives, and possibilities in their writing.
• They improve your students’ writing skills and confidence. Creative writing prompts can help your students to practice various aspects of writing, such as grammar, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, structure, coherence, etc. They can also help your students to develop their voice, style, and tone in their writing. By writing regularly and receiving feedback, your students can improve their writing proficiency and self-esteem.
• They enhance your students’ critical thinking and communication skills. Creative writing prompts can help your students to think critically and creatively about different topics, issues, and situations. They can also help your students to express their opinions, arguments, emotions, and stories in a clear and effective way. By writing for different purposes and audiences, your students can improve their communication competence and awareness.
• They enrich your literature curriculum and connections. Creative writing prompts can help you to introduce or review literary concepts, such as plot, character, setting, theme, point of view, etc. They can also help you to connect your students’ writing to other texts, genres, or authors that you are studying. By using creative writing prompts, you can make your literature lessons more relevant, engaging, and fun for your students.

How to Choose Creative Writing Prompts?

There are many sources of creative writing prompts that you can use in your classroom. You can find them online, in books, magazines, newspapers, or even in everyday objects or situations. You can also create your own prompts based on the texts you are studying, the current events, or your students’ interests. However, not all prompts are suitable for all students or occasions. When choosing creative writing prompts for your classroom, you should consider the following factors:

• Relevance: The prompts should be related to the objectives and topics of your literature curriculum. They should also be appropriate for the level and age of your students.
• Engagement: The prompts should be interesting and appealing for your students. They should also be challenging enough to stimulate their thinking and creativity.
• Diversity: The prompts should cover a variety of genres, themes, and formats. They should also allow for different responses and interpretations from your students.

Here are some examples of creative writing prompts that you can use or adapt for your literature classroom:

• Write a letter to a character from a book you have read.
• Rewrite the ending of a story you have read.
• Write a poem about a place you have visited or want to visit.
• Write a dialogue between two characters from different books or genres.
• Write a diary entry from the perspective of a historical figure or a fictional character.
• Write a short story based on a picture or a word.
• Write a review of a book you have read or a movie you have watched.
• Write a haiku about a season or an emotion.

How to Use Creative Writing Prompts?

Once you have chosen or created some creative writing prompts for your classroom, you need to decide how to use them effectively. Here are some tips on how to use creative writing prompts in your classroom:

• Give your students some guidelines and expectations for their writing. For example, you can specify the length (e.g., one paragraph, one page), the format (e.g., letter, essay), the audience (e.g., yourself, a friend), the tone (e.g., formal, informal), and the purpose (e.g., inform, persuade) of their writing. You can also provide them with some examples of good writing or feedback criteria.
• Encourage your students to be creative, original, and expressive. Remind them that there is no right or wrong answer to a prompt, and that they can use their imagination and personal voice. You can also encourage them to experiment with different styles, techniques, and perspectives in their writing.
• Provide your students with opportunities to share and discuss their writing. You can create a class blog, a bulletin board, or a newsletter where you can showcase your students’ work. You can also organize peer review sessions, writing circles, or presentations where your students can give and receive feedback, praise, and suggestions.
• Use the prompts as a springboard for further learning. You can use the prompts to introduce or review literary concepts, such as plot, character, setting, theme, point of view, etc. You can also use the prompts to connect your students’ writing to other texts, genres, or authors that you are studying.

Creative writing prompts are a fun and effective way to enhance your literature curriculum and motivate your students to write. By using creative writing prompts in your classroom, you can help your students to improve their writing skills, critical thinking skills, and communication skills. You can also help your students to explore different genres, themes, and topics in literature, and to express their creativity, originality, and personality in their writing. Try them out and see how they can transform your classroom!

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55 Creative Writing Activities and Exercises

Have you ever heard these questions or statements from your students?

• I don’t know where to begin.
• How can I make my story interesting?
• I’m just not creative.
• What should my story be about?

If so, you won’t want to miss these creative writing activities. 

What Are Creative Writing Activities?

Activities that teach creative writing serve as drills to exercise your student’s writing muscle. When used effectively, they help reluctant writers get past that intimidating blank paper and encourage the words to flow. 

When I think of creative writing exercises , writing prompts immediately come to mind. And, yes, writing from a prompt is certainly an example of a creative writing activity (a highly effective one). 

However, writing prompts are only one way to teach creative writing. Other types of activities include games, collaboration with others, sensory activities, and comic strip creation to name a few.

Unlike writing assignments, creative writing activities aren’t necessarily meant to create a perfectly polished finished project. 

Instead, they serve as more of a warmup and imagination boost.

Picture-based writing exercises are especially fun. You can download one for free below!

get this picture prompt printable for free!

How to use creative writing exercises effectively.

When teaching creative writing , the most effective exercises inspire and engage the student. 

Remember that worn-out prompt your teacher probably hauled out every year? 

“What I Did This Summer…” 

Cue the groaning. 

Instead of presenting your student with lackluster topics like that one, let’s talk about ways to engage and excite them. 

For Kids or Beginners

Early writers tend to possess misconceptions about writing. Many picture sitting down for hours straight, polishing a story from beginning to end. 

Even for experienced writers, this is next-to-impossible to do. It’s preconceived ideas like these that overwhelm and discourage students before they’ve even started. 

Instead of assigning an essay to complete, start with simple, short writing exercises for elementary students such as:

• Creating comic strips using a template
• Talking out loud about a recent dream
• Writing a poem using rhyming words you provide
• Creating an acrostic from a special word

Creative writing exercises don’t have to end in a finished piece of work. If the exercise encouraged creative thinking and helped the student put pen to paper, it’s done its job. 

For Middle School

Creative writing activities for middle school can be a little more inventive. They now have the fundamental reading and writing skills to wield their words properly. 

Here are some ideas for middle school writing exercises you can try at home:

• Creating Mad Lib-style stories by changing out nouns, verbs, and adjectives in their favorite tales
• Storyboarding a short film
• Writing a family newsletter
• Creating crossword puzzles

For High School 

Your high school student may be starting to prepare for college essays and other important creative writing assignments. 

It’s more critical than ever for her to exercise her writing skills on a regular basis. 

One great way to keep your high schooler’s mind thinking creatively is to have her make “listicles” of tips or facts about something she’s interested in already. 

Another fun and effective creative writing exercise for high school is to have your student retell classic stories with a twist. 

List of 55 Creative Writing Activities for Students of All Ages

No matter what age range your students may be, I think you’ll find something that suits their personality and interests in this list of creative writing ideas. Enjoy! 

• Using only the sense of hearing, describe your surroundings. 
• Write a paragraph from your shoes’ point of view. How do they view the world? What does a “day in the life of a shoe” look like?
• Imagine what the world will be like in 200 years. Describe it. 
• Write a letter to someone you know who moved away. What has he or she missed? Should he or she move back? Why? 
• Make up an imaginary friend. What does he or she look like? What does he or she like to do?
• Create a story about a person you know. Use as many details as possible.
• Write a poem that describes a place you have been.
• Soak up the season you’re in with seasonal creative writing prompts. Here are some ideas for fall and winter .
• Write a song where each line starts with the next letter in the alphabet. 
• Create a list of words related to something you love.
• Write a short story based on a true event in your life.
• Rewrite a chapter of your favorite book from the antagonist’s point of view. 
• Write a letter to your future self. What do you want to make sure you remember?
• Go on a five-senses scavenger hunt. Find three items for each sense. Create a story using the items you found. 
• Create a story around an interesting picture ( try these fun picture writing prompts! )
• Find an ad in a magazine or elsewhere and rewrite the description to convince people NOT to buy the advertised item.
• Write a story using the last word of each sentence as the first word of the next.
• Describe everything you’re sensing right now, using all five senses.
• Write a list of animals A to Z with a one-sentence description of each one. Feel free to include imaginary animals.
• Design your dream room in detail.
• Write a script of yourself interviewing a famous person. Include his or her answers.
• Describe what high school would be like if you lived on the moon. What would you be learning about? How would you be learning it?
• Describe a day in the life of a famous person in history. Include both mundane and exciting details of things they may have experienced on a normal day.
• Pick up something on a bookshelf or end table nearby. Now write a commercial script for it to convince your audience that they absolutely must own this thing.
• Plan a birthday party for your best friend. Describe the decorations, food, and everything else.
• Write a very short story about three siblings fighting over a toy. Now rewrite it twice, each time from a different character’s perspective.
• Tell a story from the point of view of a pigeon on a city street.
• Create a menu for a deli you’ll be opening soon. Name each sandwich after something or someone in real life and list the fillings and type of bread.
• Pretend you just became famous for something. Write 3 exciting newspaper headlines about the topic or reason behind your newfound fame.
• Keep a one-line-a-day journal. Every day, write down one thought or sentence about something that happened that day or how you felt about the day.
• Have you ever had a nightmare? Write what happened but with a new ending where everything turns out okay (perhaps the monster was your dad in a costume, preparing to surprise you at your birthday party).
• Write a “tweet” about something that happened to you recently, using only 140 characters. 
• Take an important event in your life or the life of someone in your family. Write one sentence answering each of the 6 journalistic questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
• Set a timer for 5 minutes and write nonstop, starting with the words “I remember.” If you get stuck, write “I remember” again until you get unstuck.
• Pick something you use often (a toothbrush, your desk, etc). Then tell the story of how it was invented. If you don’t know, make something up.
• Choose a princess or hero and write a one-paragraph story about him or her traveling to a distant land.
• Pretend you are a tour guide for a local attraction. It can be a library, a park, or a museum, but it could also be a place that wouldn’t normally hold tours (such as an arcade). Write a speech about what you tell your tour group as you walk around the attraction.
• Create a marketing brochure for your favorite activity or fun place to go.
• Make a list of 10 future story settings. Write one sentence describing each. For example, “ in the dark, musty cellar of my grandmother’s house, surrounded by dried-up jars of canned peaches… ”
• Make a list of foods included in a dinner party catered by the world’s worst cook, describing how each course looks, smells, and tastes. Include your reactions while eating it.
• Write out your own version of instructions for playing your favorite game.
• Pretend you’ve lost your sight for one night. Describe going out to eat at a restaurant, using smells, textures, and sounds to tell your story.
• Write a script for an interesting phone conversation in which the reader can only hear one side. 
• Tell the story of an object someone threw away from the perspective of the person who tossed it out. Then tell the story of that same object from the perspective of a person who finds it and deems it a treasure.
• List your 3 least favorite chores. Pick one and write a one paragraph detailing why you can’t possibly complete that chore ever again.
• Write an excerpt from your dog’s diary (pretend he keeps one).
• Write the script for a movie trailer—real or imagined.
• Create an acrostic for a holiday of your choice. 
• Pretend you’re the master of a role-playing game, describing a sticky situation in which the other players now find themselves. Describe the scenario in writing.
• Compose a funny or dramatic caption for a photo.
• Parents, place a textured object in a box without letting your student see it. Have him or her reach in, touch the object, and then describe how it feels.
• Write lyrics for a parody of a song.
• Make a list of 10-20 songs that would be played if a movie was made about your life.
• Describe the sounds, smells, sights, and textures you’d experience if you went to the beach for the day.
• Write an election speech with ludicrous and impossible campaign promises.

One of the best ways to encourage students to write regularly is by providing fun creative writing activities . 

They serve to encourage both the habit and mindset of writing with imagination. If you need extra help with that, check out Creative Freewriting Adventure :

bring excitement into your student’s writing – no prep required!

About the author.

Jordan Mitchell

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4 Writing Ideas for Creative Classrooms

How can we help our students develop writing skills? We can take the rigorous approach, teaching the writing process, academic modes, and integrated grammar. We can also use the creative approach, engaging students' imagination and artistic expression through stories and poems. Unfortunately, the demands of standards-based testing are pushing the creative approach out of many ELA classrooms. Let's not let that happen in ours. Students profit when we make time for both types of instruction, since each approach benefits the other.

The rigorous approach builds foundational skills for clear communication, skills that lead to compelling stories, poems, and plays. On the other hand, creative writing develops expressive skills that produce more robust, original thinking in academic forms of writing.

Furthermore, creative writing engages students in ways that purely academic forms often don't. When we assign creative writing activities, we demonstrate that writing isn't some big scary animal, but instead can be liberating, imaginative, and fun!

Consider using the following writing activities to get your students' creativity flowing onto paper.

Story Starters: But What Happens Next?

Have students read the following story starters. Ask them to choose their favorite and write what happens next, keeping the story going as long as they can. As an alternative, they can create a new starter and then tell the rest of the story.

• The sound coming from the sewer was unlike anything Lilly had ever heard. Whatever it was, it was getting louder and moving closer. . . .
• When Jimmy stepped outside on that bright sunny morning, the ground sank beneath him. He reached up, grasping for something— anything —when finally . . .
• What Chelsea would do that day was the bravest thing of all.
• Dequan flung his controller at the game screen. Instead of hearing a sharp crack , he heard a digital splash. Baffled, Dequan looked closer for damage and realized the black controller, now shrunken and animated, rested in the hands of a character on screen. “Want to play a game?” the character asked, moving the joystick forward. Dequan jolted toward the screen. . . .
• Four suited figures in dark shades searched menacingly for the key to the safe, not knowing the key lay hidden in my pocket.
• The egg at my feet shook and cracked open. A scaly wing unfolded from it, and then another. Before long,I was staring into the groggy eyes of a baby dragon.
• Have you ever wished you could go back in time and do something over again? Today, I got that chance.
• No one could have guess what would happen when the students took over the school. . . .

View Minilesson for Classroom Presentation

Diary of a #2 Pencil

Challenge students to write a diary entry or blog post from the perspective of an everyday object from school (pencil, paintbrush, microscope, and so on). What would the object have to say if it could “write” a diary about its daily life?

Here’s how a student might begin a diary entry from the perspective of a pencil. . . .

October 20, 2017

Dear diary,

Today, I was sharpened. This was a very big deal because I had an important job to do today. . . .

Sound Off with Onomatopoeia

English has many words that sound like what they name. For example, sizzle sounds like frying food, and buzz sounds like the beating of a bee's wings or static on an amplifier. This similarity of sound is called onomatopoeia . Present students with a list of sound words, like those in the table below:

Then have them choose their favorite sound word and list all the ways in which it could be produced in real life. Encourage students to think of as many ways as they can, no matter how wild the ideas may seem. Finally, have them organize their ideas into a list poem like the example that follows:

Splat is . . . a hippo doing a belly flop.

an egg hitting the floor.

fat rain slapping a windshield.

water landing in an empty stomach.

a cream pie in the face.

atoms colliding.

Creative Synopses

Have you ever read a brief synopsis of an upcoming movie or television episode? These short, playful previews provide their own form of entertainment. Can you guess the films these short synopses refer to?

• A young queen flees her kingdom after causing an eternal winter, but her fearless sister sets out to thaw the frigid spell.
• A gentle alien stranded on Earth befriends a young boy.
• The dark side is out for revenge on an icy planet as a villain tracks down his nemesis.
• An affable new assistant works to avoid the scorn of her fashionista boss.

(Answers: 1. Frozen ; 2. E.T .; 3. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back ; 4. The Devil Wears Prada .)

Your students can play a similar game by creating their own short synopses of their favorite movies, books, or topics of study. Follow these steps to introduce the activity:

• Choose a topic for the synopsis. It could be a favorite movie, book, or school subject.
• Present a model, and ask students to guess what it summarizes. For example, a synopsis of a social studies topic could be A united group of colonies fights for sovereignty in a new world. (Answer: American Revolutionary War)
• Point out that the synopsis should provide a general sense of the topic without revealing too many specific details. For example, advise students to avoid proper nouns such as character names and settings.
• Provide time for students to write their synopses. If they struggle to distill their topics to one sentence, recommend that they write two or three sentences and decide what details to combine or eliminate.
• Have students exchange their synopses with partners to see if they can guess each others' descriptions, or read each response aloud and have the class guess the answer.

Additional Activities

Interested in more creative writing ideas? Check out these five fun activities , or browse a host of creativity-inspired minilessons .

Teacher Support:

Click to find out more about this resource.

Standards Correlations:

The State Standards provide a way to evaluate your students' performance.

• 110.5.b.12.A
• LAFS.3.W.1.3
• 110.5.b.11.A
• 110.5.b.11.B.i
• 110.5.b.11.B.ii
• LAFS.3.W.2.4
• LAFS.3.W.4.10
• 110.6.b.11.B
• 110.6.b.12.A
• LAFS.4.W.1.3
• 110.6.b.11.A
• LAFS.4.W.2.4
• LAFS.4.W.4.10
• 110.7.b.12.A
• LAFS.5.W.1.3
• 110.7.b.11.A
• LAFS.5.W.2.4
• LAFS.5.W.4.10
• 110.22.b.10
• 110.22.b.11.A
• LAFS.6.W.1.3
• 110.22.b.10.A
• 110.22.b.10.B
• LAFS.6.W.2.4
• 110.22.b.11
• 110.22.b.12
• LAFS.6.W.4.10
• 110.23.b.10
• 110.23.b.11.A
• LAFS.7.W.1.3
• 110.23.b.10.A
• LAFS.7.W.2.4
• 110.23.b.11
• LAFS.7.W.4.10

Related Resources

All resources.

• Creating a Dialogue Journal
• Using Perspective Shifting to Persuade Readers
• Using Perspective Shifting to Understand Others
• How to Engage Your Students with Shared Inquiry
• Writing a 5 W’s Story
• Writing Summaries
• Writing Résumés and Cover Letters
• Writing Personal Essays
• Writing Essays
• Writing Short Reports
• Write for Business
• Write for Work
• Write for Work Instructor’s Edition
• Writers Express
• Write on Track

Teach Creative Writing In High School With 10 Fun Activities

Creative writing is a meaningful aspect of literature that mandates you to utilize your expertise, ingenuity, and story to depict a critical message, emotion, or plot. It defies the traditional bounds of other forms of writing and is completely subjective to our preferences and experiences. In creative writing, it’s all about imaginativeness!

Using creative imagination and originality to convey feelings and concepts in a unique way is at the heart of creative writing. Simply stated, it’s about infusing your own ‘flair’ into your writing, moving beyond academic or other technical kinds of literature. 

In this post, we will explore the various activities which would be advantageous for a high schooler who wishes to indulge in creative writing!

What Happens When Creative Writing Is Put To Use?

Creative writing is any form of writing that deviates from traditional professional, investigative journalism, educational, or technological forms of literature. It is typically distinguished by emphasizing narrative craft, character development, literary tropes, or various poetic traditions.

Here are the few ways how high schoolers can benefit from creative writing –

1. Imagination

When you write creatively, you expand your imagination by creating new environments, scenarios, and characters. This way, you are also boosting and stretching your imagination, as well as “thinking out of the box.” This allows you to concentrate your energy on many other things and improve your ability to find fresh ideas and alternatives to problems you’re having. Whether you’re a researcher or a businessman, creative writing will increase your imagination and help you think more creatively, and push the boundaries.

2. Empathy and Communications skills

When you create characters, you’ll be constructing emotions, personalities, behaviors, and world views that are distinct from your own. Writers must conceive personalities, emotions, places, and walks of life outside of their own lives while creating universes with fictional characters and settings.

This can give children a good dose of empathy and understanding for those who aren’t like them, who don’t live where they do or go through the same things they do daily. Writers are better equipped to communicate when they have a greater understanding of other points of view. They can come up with creative ways to explain and debate subjects from multiple perspectives. This ability is crucial in both professional and personal situations. 

3. Clarification of Thoughts 

Creating structures in creative writing allows you to organize your impressions and emotions into a logical procedure. You may express both your thoughts and your sentiments through creative writing. For example, if you’re a marketing executive, you could create a short tale in which your clientele reads your promotional emails. You can guess what they’re up to, where they’re seated, what’s around them, and so on.

This enables you to focus on the language and strategies you employ. Alternatively, if you’re a technical writer writing on a new desktop platform, you could create a creative scenario in which a user encounters a problem. 

4. Broadens Vocabulary and gets a better understanding of reading and writing

You’ll learn a larger vocabulary and a better understanding of the mechanics of reading and writing as you begin to practice writing exercises regularly. Even if you’re writing a budget report, you’ll know when rigid grammar standards work and when they don’t, and you’ll know what will make your writing flow better for your readers. Exploring different ways of expressing yourself when writing creatively allows you to extend your vocabulary.

You’ll notice a change in your use and range of language as you improve your writing over time, which will be useful in any professional route and social scenario. You’ll be able to bend and break the rules when you need to, to utilize your voice and make what you’re writing engaging without coming off as an amateur, dull, or inauthentic once you’ve grasped the fundamentals of writing professionally and creatively.

5. Building Self-Belief 

When you write creatively, you’re actively involved in an activity that allows you to fully develop your voice and point of view without being constrained. You have a better chance to investigate and express your feelings about various issues, opinions, ideas, and characters. And you’ll feel more at ease and secure stating your thoughts and perspectives in other things you write as a result of this.

Writers who don’t write creatively may be concerned about appearing authoritative or trustworthy. They accidentally lose their voice and sound like drones spouting statistics by omitting to include their perspective on the topics they’re writing about. As a result, they miss out on using their distinct voice and presenting themselves as an expert with real-world expertise.

Creative Writing Activities That Will Strengthen Your Writing Skills  

Short spurts of spontaneous writing make up creative writing activities. These writing exercises push a writer to tackle a familiar topic in a new way, ranging from one line to a lengthy tale. Short, spontaneous projects are common in creative writing programs, but any writer should make them a regular practice to extend their abilities and learn new tactics to approach a series of stories.

These activities must be performed for ten minutes at a time, several times a week – by creative writers. They’re designed to help you improve your writing abilities, generate fresh story ideas, and become a better writer.

1. Free Writing

Writing is the first and foremost activity that is going to give your creative writing a boost. Start with a blank page and let your stream of thoughts and emotions flow. Then simply begin writing. Don’t pause to think or alter what you’re expressing. This is known as “free writing.” This writing activity is referred to as “morning pages” by Julia Cameron, the author of ‘The Artist’s Way.’ She recommends that authors do this every day when they first wake up. Stream of consciousness writing can provide some intriguing concepts.

Allow your intellect to take the lead as your fingers type. Or write a letter to your younger self.  Consider a topic you’d like to discuss, such as a noteworthy event, and write it down. Give guidance or convey a message that you wish you had heard as a youngster or a young adult.

2. Modify a Storyline – Read

Most of us like to read. However, just reading won’t really help augment your creative writing skills. While reading bestows insight into the deeper meanings of numerous things, you need a more concrete approach to better your aptitude. To do this, you can modify any storyline. Take an episode from a chapter, if you’re feeling brave—from one of your favorite books and recreate it. Write it from the perspective of a different character. Swap out the main character in this exercise to examine how the story may be conveyed differently.

Take Percy Jackson’s thrilling conclusion, for instance, and rework it with Annabeth as the primary character. Another way to approach this creative activity is to keep the primary character but switch viewpoints. Rewrite a scene in the third person if the writer has told a story in the first person. 

3. Add Creative Writing Prompts or Create Flash Fiction

Use writing prompts, often known as narrative starters, to produce writing ideas. A writing prompt is a sentence or short excerpt that a writer uses to start composing a story on the spot. You can look up writing prompts online, pick a sentence out of a magazine at random, or use a brilliant line from a well-known work as the start of your short scene.

Another thing you can do to accentuate your writing is to create flash fiction. Sit down at your desktop or pick up a pen and paper and write a 500-word story on the spur of the moment. This isn’t the same as just writing whatever comes to mind. With no fixed guidelines, free writing generates a stream of consciousness. All of the basic components of a story arc, such as plot, conflict, and character development, are required in flash fiction, albeit in a shortened form.

4. Create a Fictitious Advertisement

Pick a random word from a nearby book or newspaper and create a fictitious commercial for it. Write one ad in a formal, abbreviated newspaper classified format to require you to pay special attention to your word choice to sell the item. Then write one for an online marketplace that allows for longer, more casual text, such as Craigslist. Describe the item and persuade the reader to purchase it in each one.

5. Engage in Conversations 

Engaging in conversations with your friends/family – or simply communicating can help brush up your writing skills. Talk to your loved ones about their hobbies, career, views on societal issues – any suitable topic for that matter. This helps implement others’ points of view and expands your mental ability. Another useful thing that you can do is – make another person’s tale and create it by implementing your own thoughts. Then talk about it in an impeccable manner. Also, talk in complete sentences. This goes to show your Linguistic intelligence proficiency – and helps augment your creative writing skills.

6. Create Your Own Website/Blog

Start your search for blogging. There are a million writing suggestions out there, but they all boil down to the same thing: write. Blogging is excellent writing practice because it gives you a place to write regularly.

To keep your fingers and mind nimble, write a post every day. Like most bloggers, you’ll want to restrict your subject—perhaps you’ll focus on parenting or start a how-to site where you can tell stories from your point of view.

7. Participate in Debates/Extempores  

Participating in debates, extempores – anchoring for your school function, giving a speech, all of these activities help boost your creative spirit. These group events make you understand what other people are envisioning, which in turn helps you generate new ideas, approaches, and methods. Not only do they improve your articulation and research skills, but they also develop critical thinking and emotional control abilities. All of these promote a better creative writing aptitude.

8. Start a YouTube Channel or Podcast 

Starting a YouTube channel or podcast will definitely level up your creative game. YouTube is a never-ending platform, covering myriads of topics. Choose a particular niche for your channel.

Then do your topic research, create content, manage SEO, approach brands, talk to clients and influencers – do all the good stuff. Communicating with other influencers and creating content will take your creative writing skills to another level. Starting a podcast will have a similar impact. 

9. Love them? Say it with your words!

We have many festivals, occasions, birthdays, parties, anniversaries and whatnot! You can employ these special days and boost your creative writing skills. You can make a token of love for them – writing about your feelings. You can also make gift cards, birthday cards, dinner menus, and so on. So let’s say, it’s your mother’s birthday, you can write her a token of love, elucidating your feelings and letting her know what all she’s done for you and that you’re grateful. Do this for all your near and dear ones. This not only spreads positivity and love but helps you develop your creative aptitude.

10. The What-if Game

The What-If game is an incredible way to upgrade your creative abilities. You can play this game with your friends, cousins, relatives, or solo. Here, you need to find links to many interesting hypothetical questions. For instance, what if the sun doesn’t rise for a week? What if there’s no oxygen for one minute? Play it with your peeps, or ask these questions to yourself. It can be anything random but concrete. If you don’t know the answers to the questions, look them up on Google. This way, you’re training your mind to learn new concepts all the while enhancing your visualization process. 

We can conclude that creative writing encourages students to think creatively, use their imaginations, imply alternatives, expand their thinking processes, and improve their problem-solving skills. It also allows the child to express themselves and grow their voice. Besides, it enhances reasoning abilities. The principle behind the creative writing concept is that everyone can gain the qualities that are needed to become a successful writer or, rather become good at writing. Creative writing is all about using language in new and innovative ways.

Sananda Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of TheHighSchooler, is dedicated to enhancing operations and growth. With degrees in Literature and Asian Studies from Presidency University, Kolkata, she leverages her educational and innovative background to shape TheHighSchooler into a pivotal resource hub. Providing valuable insights, practical activities, and guidance on school life, graduation, scholarships, and more, Sananda’s leadership enriches the journey of high school students.

Explore a plethora of invaluable resources and insights tailored for high schoolers at TheHighSchooler, under the guidance of Sananda Bhattacharya’s expertise. You can follow her on Linkedin

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10 fun writing activities for the reluctant writer

  10 FUN WRITING ACTIVITIES FOR THE RELUCTANT WRITER

No doubt about it – writing isn’t easy. It is no wonder that many of our students could be described as ‘reluctant writers’ at best. It has been estimated by the National Association of Educational Progress that only about 27% of 8th and 12th Grade students can write proficiently.

As educators, we know that regular practice would go a long way to helping our students correct this underachievement, and sometimes, writing prompts just aren’t enough to light the fire.

But how do we get students, who have long since been turned off writing, to put pen to paper and log in the requisite time to develop their writing chops?

The answer is to make writing fun! In this article, we will look at some creative writing activities where we can inject a little enjoyment into the writing game.

COMPLETE DIGITAL AND PRINT FUN WRITING UNIT

25 FUN and ENGAGING writing tasks your students can complete INDEPENDENTLY with NO PREP REQUIRED that they will love.

Fully EDITABLE and works as with all DIGITAL PLATFORMS such as Google Classroom, or you can PRINT them for traditional writing tasks.

1. Poetry Scavenger Hunt

The Purpose: This activity encourages students to see the poetry in the everyday language around them while helpfully reinforcing their understanding of some of the conventions of the genre.

The Process: Encourage students to ‘scavenge’ their school, home, and outside the community for snippets of language they can compile into a piece of poetry or a poetic collage. They may copy down or photograph words, phrases, and sentences from signs, magazines, leaflets or even snippets of conversations they overhear while out and about.

Examples of language they collect may range from the Keep Out sign on private property to the destination on the front of a local bus.

Once students have gathered their language together, they can work to build a poem out of the scraps, usually choosing a central theme to give the piece cohesion. They can even include corresponding artwork to enhance the visual appeal of their work, too, if they wish.

The Prize: If poetry serves one purpose, it is to encourage us to look at the world anew with the fresh eyes of a young child. This activity challenges our students to read new meanings into familiar things and put their own spin on the language they encounter in the world around them, reinforcing the student’s grasp on poetic conventions.

2. Story Chains  

The Purpose: Writing is often thought of as a solitary pursuit. For this reason alone, it can be seen as a particularly unattractive activity by many of our more gregarious students. This fun activity exercises students’ understanding of writing structures and engages them in fun, creative collaboration.

The Process: Each student starts with a blank paper and pen. The teacher writes a story prompt on the whiteboard. You’ll find some excellent narrative writing prompts here . For example, each student spends two minutes using the writing prompt to kick-start their writing.  

When they have completed this part of the task, they will then pass their piece of paper to the student next to them. Students then continue the story from where the previous student left off for a given number of words, paragraphs, or length of time.

If organized correctly, you can ensure students receive their own initial story back at the end for the writing of the story’s conclusion .

The Prize: This fun writing activity can be used effectively to reinforce student understanding of narrative writing structures, but it can also be fun to try with other writing genres.

Working collaboratively motivates students to engage with the task, as no one wants to be the ‘weak link’ in the finished piece. But, more than that, this activity encourages students to see writing as a communicative and creative task where there needn’t be a ‘right’ answer. This encourages students to be more willing to take creative risks in their work.

3. Acrostic Associations

The Purpose: This is another great way to get students to try writing poetry – a genre that many students find the most daunting.

The Process: Acrostics are simple poems whereby each letter of a word or phrase begins a new line in the poem. Younger students can start off with something very simple, like their own name or their favorite pet and write this vertically down the page.

Older students can take a word or phrase related to a topic they have been working on or have a particular interest in and write it down on the page before beginning to write.

The Prize: This activity has much in common with the old psychiatrist’s word association technique. Students should be encouraged to riff on ideas and themes generated by the focus word or phrase. They needn’t worry about rhyme and meter and such here, but the preset letter for each line will give them some structure to their meanderings and require them to impose some discipline on their wordsmithery, albeit in a fun and loose manner.

4. The What If Challenge

The Purpose: This challenge helps encourage students to see the link between posing interesting hypothetical questions and creating an entertaining piece of writing.

The Process: To begin this exercise, have the students come up with a single What If question, which they can then write down on a piece of paper. The more off-the-wall, the better!

For example, ‘What if everyone in the world knew what you were thinking?’ or ‘What if your pet dog could talk?’ Students fold up their questions and drop them into a hat. Each student picks one out of the hat before writing on that question for a suitable set amount of time.

Example What If Questions

• “What if you woke up one day and found out that you had the power to time travel?”
• “What if you were the last person on Earth? How would you spend your time?”
• “What if you were granted three wishes, but each one came with a terrible consequence?”
• “What if you discovered a secret portal to another world? Where would you go, and what would you do?”
• “What if you woke up one day with the ability to communicate with animals? How would your life change?”

The Prize: Students are most likely to face the terror of the dreaded Writer’s Block when they are faced with open-ended creative writing tasks.

This activity encourages the students to see the usefulness of posing hypothetical What If questions, even random off-the-wall ones, for kick-starting their writing motors.

Though students begin by answering the questions set for them by others, please encourage them to see how they can set these questions for themselves the next time they suffer from a stalled writing engine.

5. The Most Disgusting Sandwich in the World

The Purpose: Up until now, we have looked at activities encouraging our students to have fun with genres such as fiction and poetry. These genres being imaginative in nature, more easily lend themselves to being enjoyable than some of the nonfiction genres.

But what about descriptive writing activities? In this activity, we endeavor to bring that same level of enjoyment to instruction writing while also cleverly reinforcing the criteria of this genre.

The Process: Undoubtedly, when teaching instruction writing, you will at some point cover the specific criteria of the genre with your students.

These will include things like the use of a title, numbered or bulleted points, time connectives, imperatives, diagrams with captions etc. You will then want the students to produce their own piece of instruction writing or procedural text to display their understanding of how the genre works.

 But, why not try a fun topic such as How to Make the Most Disgusting Sandwich in the World rather than more obvious (and drier!) topics such as How to Tie Your Shoelaces or How to Make a Paper Airplane when choosing a topic for your students to practice their instruction writing chops?

Example of a Most disgusting Sandwich Text

The Prize: As mentioned, with nonfiction genres, in particular, we tend to suggest more banal topics for our students to work on while internalizing the genre’s criteria. Enjoyment and acquiring practical writing skills need not be mutually exclusive.

Our students can just as quickly, if not more easily, absorb and internalize the necessary writing conventions while engaged in writing about whimsical and even nonsensical topics.

if your sandwich is entering the realm of horror, be sure to check our complete guide to writing a scary story here as well.

Daily Quick Writes For All Text Types

Our FUN DAILY QUICK WRITE TASKS will teach your students the fundamentals of CREATIVE WRITING across all text types. Packed with 52 ENGAGING ACTIVITIES

6. Diary Entry of a Future Self

The Purpose: This activity allows students to practice personal writing within the conventions of diary/journal writing. It also challenges them to consider what their world will be like in the future, perhaps stepping a foot into the realm of science fiction.

The Process: Straightforwardly, after working through some examples of diary or journal writing, and reviewing the various criteria of the genre, challenge the students to write an entry at a given milestone in the future.

This may be when they leave school, begin work, go to university, get married, have kids, retire etc. You may even wish to get the students to write an entry for a series of future milestones as part of a more extended project.

Example of Message to Future Me Text

The Prize: Students will get a chance here to exercise their understanding of this type of writing , but more than that, they will also get an opportunity to exercise their imaginative muscles too. They will get to consider what shape their future world will take in this engaging thought experiment that will allow them to improve their writing too.

7. Comic Strip Script

The Purpose: Give your students the chance to improve their dialogue writing skills and to work on their understanding of character development in this fun activity which combines writing with the use of a series of visual elements.

The Process: There are two ways to do this activity. The first requires you to source, or create, a comic strip minus the dialogue the characters are speaking. This may be as straightforward as using whiteout to erase the words in speech bubbles and making copies for your students to complete.

Alternatively, provide the students with photographs/pictures and strips of cards for them to form their own action sequences . When students have their ‘mute’ strips, they can begin to write the dialogue/script to link the panels together.

The Prize: When it comes to writing, comic strips are probably one of the easier sells to reluctant students! This activity also allows students to write for speech. This will stand to them later when they come to produce sections of dialogue in their narrative writing or when producing play or film scripts.

They will also develop their visual literacy skills as they scan the pictures for clues of tone and context before they begin their writing.

Keep It Fun

Just as we should encourage our students to read for fun and wider educational benefits, we should also work to instil similar attitudes towards writing. To do this means we must work to avoid always framing writing in the context of a chore, that bitter pill that must be swallowed for the good of our health.

There is no getting away from the fact that writing can, at times, be laborious. It is time-consuming and, for most of us, difficult at the best of times. There is a certain, inescapable amount of work involved in becoming a competent writer.

That said, as we have seen in the activities above, with a bit of creative thought, we can inject fun into even the most practical of writing activities . All that is required is a dash of imagination and a sprinkling of effort.

8. Character Interviews

The Purpose: Character interviews as writing activities are excellent for students because they encourage creative thinking, character development, and empathy. The purpose of this activity is to help students delve deeper into the minds of the characters they are creating in their stories or reading about in literature. By conducting interviews with these characters, students gain a better understanding of their personalities, motivations, and perspectives.

The Process of character interviews involves students imagining themselves as interviewers and their characters as interviewees. They can either write out the questions and answers in a script-like format or write a narrative where the character responds to the questions in their own voice.

The Prize: Through character interviews, students learn several valuable skills:

• Character Development: By exploring various aspects of their characters’ lives, backgrounds, and experiences, students can develop more well-rounded and authentic characters in their stories. This helps make their fictional creations more relatable and engaging to readers.
• Empathy and Perspective: Conducting interviews requires students to put themselves in their characters’ shoes, considering their thoughts, emotions, and struggles. This cultivates empathy and a deeper understanding of human behavior, which can be applied to real-life situations as well.
• Voice and Dialogue: In crafting the character’s responses, students practice writing authentic dialogue and giving their characters unique voices. This skill is valuable for creating dynamic and believable interactions between characters in their stories.
• Creative Expression: Character interviews provide a creative outlet for students to let their imaginations run wild. They can explore scenarios that may not appear in the main story and discover new aspects of their characters they might not have considered before.
• Critical Thinking: Formulating questions for the interview requires students to think critically about their characters’ personalities and backgrounds. This exercise enhances their analytical skills and storytelling abilities.

Overall, character interviews are a dynamic and enjoyable way for students to delve deeper into the worlds they create or the literature they read. It nurtures creativity, empathy, and writing skills, empowering students to become more proficient and imaginative writers.

9. The Travel Journal

The Purpose: Travel journal writing tasks are excellent for students as they offer a unique and immersive way to foster creativity, cultural awareness, and descriptive writing skills. The purpose of this activity is to allow students to embark on a fictional or real travel adventure, exploring new places, cultures, and experiences through the eyes of a traveller.

The process of a travel journal writing task involves students assuming the role of a traveler and writing about their journey in a journal format. They can describe the sights, sounds, tastes, and emotions they encounter during their travels. This activity encourages students to use vivid language, sensory details, and expressive writing to bring their travel experiences to life.

The Prize: Through travel journal writing tasks, students will learn several valuable skills:

• Descriptive Writing: By describing their surroundings and experiences in detail, students enhance their descriptive writing skills, creating engaging and vivid narratives.
• Cultural Awareness: Travel journals encourage students to explore different cultures, customs, and traditions. This helps broaden their understanding and appreciation of diversity.
• Empathy and Perspective: Through writing from the perspective of a traveler, students develop empathy and gain insight into the lives of people from different backgrounds.
• Research Skills: For fictional travel journals, students might research specific locations or historical periods to make their narratives more authentic and accurate.
• Reflection and Self-Expression: Travel journals offer a space for students to reflect on their own emotions, thoughts, and personal growth as they encounter new experiences.
• Creativity and Imagination: For fictional travel adventures, students get to unleash their creativity and imagination, envisioning fantastical places and scenarios.
• Language and Vocabulary: Travel journal writing tasks provide opportunities for students to expand their vocabulary and experiment with expressive language.

Overall, travel journal writing tasks inspire students to become more observant, empathetic, and skilled writers. They transport them to new worlds and foster a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world around them. Whether writing about real or imaginary journeys, students develop a deeper connection to the places they encounter, making this activity both educational and enjoyable.

10. The Fairy Tale Remix

The Purpose: A fairy tale remix writing activity is a fantastic creative exercise for students as it allows them to put a unique spin on classic fairy tales, fostering imagination, critical thinking, and storytelling skills. This activity encourages students to think outside the box, reinterpret well-known tales, and explore their creative potential by transforming traditional narratives into something entirely new and exciting.

The process of a fairy tale remix writing activity involves students selecting a familiar fairy tale and altering key elements such as characters, settings, plot twists, or outcomes. They can modernize the story, change the genre, or even mix different fairy tales together to create a wholly original piece.

The Prize: Through this activity, students will learn several valuable skills:

• Creative Thinking: Students exercise their creativity by brainstorming unique concepts and ideas to remix the fairy tales, encouraging them to think imaginatively.
• Critical Analysis: Analyzing the original fairy tale to identify essential elements to keep and areas to remix helps students develop critical thinking skills and understand storytelling structures.
• Writing Techniques: Crafting a remix requires students to use descriptive language, engaging dialogue, and well-developed characters, helping them hone their writing techniques.
• Perspective and Empathy: Remixing fairy tales allows students to explore different character perspectives, promoting empathy and understanding of diverse points of view.
• Genre Exploration: Remixing fairy tales can introduce students to various genres like science fiction, fantasy, or mystery, expanding their literary horizons.
• Originality: Creating their own narrative twists and unexpected plots encourages students to take ownership of their writing and develop a unique voice.
• Storytelling: Students learn the art of compelling storytelling as they weave together familiar elements with innovative ideas, captivating their readers.

By remixing fairy tales, students embark on a creative journey that empowers them to reimagine well-loved stories while honing their writing skills and imaginative prowess. It’s an engaging and enjoyable way for students to connect with literature, explore new possibilities, and showcase their storytelling talents.

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How creative writing can increase students’ resilience, students can find strength and community in sharing their stories through writing..

Many of my seventh-grade students do not arrive at school ready to learn. Their families often face financial hardship and live in cramped quarters, which makes it difficult to focus on homework. The responsibility for cooking and taking care of younger siblings while parents work often falls on these twelve year olds’ small shoulders. Domestic violence and abuse are also not uncommon.

To help traumatized students overcome their personal and academic challenges, one of our first jobs as teachers is to build a sense of community. We need to communicate that we care and that we welcome them into the classroom just as they are. One of the best ways I’ve found to connect with my students, while also nurturing their reading and writing skills, is through creative writing.

For the past three years, I’ve invited students in my English Language Development (ELD) classes to observe their thoughts, sit with their emotions, and offer themselves and each other compassion through writing and sharing about their struggles. Creating a safe, respectful environment in which students’ stories matter invites the disengaged, the hopeless, and the numb to open up. Students realize that nobody is perfect and nobody’s life is perfect. In this kind of classroom community, they can take the necessary risks in order to learn, and they become more resilient when they stumble.

Fostering a growth mindset

One of the ways students can boost their academic performance and develop resilience is by building a growth mindset. Carol Dweck, Stanford University professor of psychology and author of the book Mindset , explains that people with a growth mindset focus on learning from mistakes and welcoming challenges rather than thinking they’re doomed to be dumb or unskillful. A growth mindset goes hand in hand with self-compassion: recognizing that everyone struggles and treating ourselves with kindness when we trip up.

One exercise I find very useful is to have students write a story about a time when they persevered when faced with a challenge—in class, sports, or a relationship. Some of the themes students explore include finally solving math problems, learning how to defend themselves, or having difficult conversations with parents.

I primed the pump by telling my students about something I struggled with—feeling left behind in staff meetings as my colleagues clicked their way through various computer applications. I confided that PowerPoint and Google Slides—tools (one might assume) that any teacher worth a paperweight has mastered—still eluded me. By admitting my deficiency to my students, asking for their help, and choosing to see the opportunity to remedy it every day in the classroom, I aimed to level the playing field with them. They may have been reading three or four grade levels behind, but they could slap a PowerPoint presentation together in their sleep.

For students, sharing their own stories of bravery, resilience, and determination brings these qualities to the forefront of their minds and helps solidify the belief that underlies a growth mindset: I can improve and grow . We know from research in neuroplasticity that when students take baby steps to achieve a goal and take pride in their accomplishments, they change their brains, growing new neural networks and fortifying existing ones. Neurons in the brain release the feel-good chemical dopamine, which plays a major role in motivating behavior toward rewards.

After writing about a few different personal topics, students choose one they want to publish on the bulletin boards at the back of the classroom. They learn to include the juicy details of their stories (who, what, when, where, why, and how), and they get help from their peers, who ask follow-up questions to prompt them to include more information. This peer editing builds their resilience in more ways than one—they make connections with each other by learning about each other’s lives, and they feel empowered by lending a hand.

In my experience, students are motivated to do this assignment because it helps them feel that their personal stories and emotions truly matter, despite how their other academics are going. One student named Alejandro chose to reflect on basketball and the persistence and time it took him to learn:

Hoops By Alejandro Gonzalez Being good takes time. One time my sister took me to a park and I saw people playing basketball. I noticed how good they were and decided I wanted to be like them. Still I told my sister that basketball looked hard and that I thought I couldn’t do it. She said,“You could do it if you tried. You’ll get the hang of it.” My dad bought me a backboard and hoop to play with. I was really happy, but the ball wasn’t making it in. Every time I got home from school, I would go straight to the backyard to play. I did that almost every day until little by little I was getting the hang of it. I also played with my friends. Every day after lunch we would meet at the basketball court to have a game. … I learned that you need to be patient and to practice a lot to get the hang of things. With a little bit of practice, patience, and hard work, anything is possible.

Originally, Alejandro wasn’t sure why he was in school and often lacked the motivation to learn. But writing about something he was passionate about and recalling the steps that led to his success reminded him of the determination and perseverance he had demonstrated in the past, nurturing a positive view of himself. It gave him a renewed sense of investment in learning English and eventually helped him succeed in his ELD class, as well.

Maintaining a hopeful outlook

Another way to build resilience in the face of external challenges is to shore up our inner reserves of hope —and I’ve found that poetry can serve as inspiration for this.

For the writing portion of the lesson, I invite students to “get inside” poems by replicating the underlying structure and trying their hand at writing their own verses. I create poem templates, where students fill in relevant blanks with their own ideas. 

One poem I like to share is “So Much Happiness” by Naomi Shihab Nye. Its lines “Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house / and now live over a quarry of noise and dust / cannot make you unhappy” remind us that, despite the unpleasant events that occur in our lives, it’s our choice whether to allow them to interfere with our happiness. The speaker, who “love[s] even the floor which needs to be swept, the soiled linens, and scratched records,” has a persistently sunny outlook.

It’s unrealistic for students who hear gunshots at night to be bubbling over with happiness the next morning. Still, the routine of the school day and the sense of community—jokes with friends, a shared bag of hot chips for breakfast, and a creative outlet—do bolster these kids. They have an unmistakable drive to keep going, a life force that may even burn brighter because they take nothing for granted—not even the breath in their bodies, life itself. 

Itzayana was one of those students who, due to the adversity in her life, seemed too old for her years. She rarely smiled and started the school year with a defiant approach to me and school in general, cursing frequently in the classroom. Itzayana’s version of “So Much Happiness” hinted at some of the challenges I had suspected she had in her home life:

It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness. Even the fact that you once heard your family laughing and now hear them yelling at each other cannot make you unhappy. Everything has a life of its own, it too could wake up filled with possibilities of tamales and horchata and love even scrubbing the floor, washing dishes, and cleaning your room. Since there is no place large enough to contain so much happiness, help people in need, help your family, and take care of yourself.   —Itzayana C.

Her ending lines, “Since there is no place large enough to contain so much happiness, / help people in need, help your family, and take care of yourself,” showed her growing awareness of the need for self-care as she continued to support her family and others around her. This is a clear sign of her developing resilience.

Poetry is packed with emotion, and writing their own poems allows students to grapple with their own often-turbulent inner lives. One student commented on the process, saying, “By writing poems, I’ve learned to be calm and patient, especially when I get mad about something dumb.” Another student showed pride in having her writing published; she reflected, “I feel good because other kids can use it for calming down when they’re angry.”

To ease students into the creative process, sometimes we also write poems together as a class. We brainstorm lines to include, inviting the silly as well as the poignant and creating something that represents our community.

Practicing kindness

Besides offering my students new ways of thinking about themselves, I also invite them to take kind actions toward themselves and others.

In the music video for “Give a Little Love” by Noah and the Whale, one young African American boy—who witnesses bullying at school and neglect in his neighborhood —decides to take positive action and whitewash a wall of graffiti. Throughout the video, people witness others’ random acts of kindness, and then go on to do their own bit.

“My love is my whole being / And I’ve shared what I could,” the lyrics say—a reminder that our actions speak louder than our words and do have an incredible impact. The final refrain in the song—“Well if you are (what you love) / And you do (what you love) /...What you share with the world is what it keeps of you”—urges the students to contribute in a positive way to the classroom, the school campus, and their larger community.

After watching the video, I ask students to reflect upon what kind of community they would like to be part of and what makes them feel safe at school. They write their answers—for example, not being laughed at by their peers and being listened to—on Post-it notes. These notes are used to create classroom rules. This activity sends a message early on that we are co-creating our communal experience together. Students also write their own versions of the lyrics, reflecting on different things you can give and receive—like kindness, peace, love, and ice cream.

Reaping the benefits

To see how creative writing impacts students, I invite them to rate their resilience through a self-compassion survey at the start of the school year and again in the spring. Last year, two-thirds of students surveyed increased in self-compassion; Alejandro grew his self-compassion by 20 percent. The program seems to work at developing their reading and writing skills, as well: At the middle of the school year, 40 percent of my students moved up to the next level of ELD, compared to 20 percent the previous year. 

As a teacher, my goal is to meet students where they’re at and learn about their whole lives. Through creative writing activities, we create a community of compassionate and expressive learners who bear witness to the impact of trauma in each others’ experiences and together build resilience.

As a symbol of community and strength, I had a poster in my classroom of a boat at sea with hundreds of refugees standing shoulder to shoulder looking skyward. It’s a hauntingly beautiful image of our ability to risk it all for a better life, as many of my ELD students do. Recognizing our common humanity and being able to share about our struggles not only leads to some beautiful writing, but also some brave hearts.

About the Author

Laura Bean, M.F.A. , executive director of Mindful Literacy, consults with school communities to implement mindfulness and creative writing programs. She has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and presented a mindful writing workshop at Bridging the Hearts and Minds of Youth Conference in San Diego in 2016.

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7 ways to bring Creative Writing into the #EFL classroom

Here are 7 ways to bring creative writing to your classroom from teachers all over the world:

1. Bag of Props 

Stefan Chiarantano – Stefan has taught English in Taiwan, Japan and China for several years and in his hometown of Toronto, Canada.

To make learning English fun for my students I would bring in a bag of props that I could incorporate into my lessons. My bag of tricks included CDs of children’s songs, chants and pop music. I would use a chant with Total Physical Response (TPR) to begin a class with young learners or a pop song with adolescent junior high school students as a means to teach idioms, vocabulary or grammar. My bag also included puppets, which allowed me to teach target language such as greetings by acting out a dialogue skit with the puppets. I varied my voice for the puppets and soon discovered that it had introduced another native speaker in the classroom.. . It included stuffed animals, which I used to teach prepositions of place. There were coloured plastic balls to teach colours but which I also used in playful activities. . As silly as it sounds, I would be lost without my bag of tricks. It has infused creativity into the way I teach but more importantly it has made learning English an enjoyable experience for my students. 

2. A Sense of Adventure

Ezekiel Yerimoh – Ezekiel is a Certified Supply Chain Officer and the CEO of Tonell & Cole. He is also the National Coordinator of Quizzing Nigeria (a member of the International Quizzing Association – IQA) and the President of Knowledgefield International.  

Creative writing can bring a spirit of adventure into the classroom. Thinking about an unusual, exciting and dangerous experience or event is not only a great way to widen the horizons of students but also to give them great exposure to new vocabulary. Moreover, students’ talents, gifts, skills, environment, background and personality will play a major role in its ability to function effectively in creative writing. Basically, students should be well trained to undertake the task of creative writing.

A good example of an unusual event is for one to imagine the sunlight when it is supposed to be dark or a wild animal that speaks like a human being. Students can become more engaged if they use their personality traits and experiences to come up with their own unusual events and then perform free writing based on the event, letting their stories becomes more and more unusual.

3. Debates and Quotes

Tatyana Fedosova  – Tatyana has a PhD in English Philology, and is Professor of English at the Department of German Philology of Gorno-Altaisk State University, Altai, Siberia, Russia.

My favorite written task for intermediate-level students is to write an expert viewpoint on a challenging real-life situation or problem for a column in a magazine, for example, how to behave in a new school. I like to provide students with a quotation of a famous person on some hot topic and have them write a short argumentative passage on it. I also have my students debate a proposed amendment to the constitution by writing a speech for the TV debates or write the presidential pledge for the elections. I find it useful to ask students to make up an ending to a story, to complete the beginning of a sentence, or to write a report about an exotic place that they visited or a cultural/sporting event that took place in their region. These tasks help to reinforce key concepts under study, develop critical-thinking, cognitive, and creative skills and have practical applications as well. 

4. Mad-Libs

Peter Winthrop – Peter has been teaching kindergarten and primary school students in Shanghai, China since 2009. In addition to teaching he also assists in teacher training and mentoring.

Bringing creative writing into the classroom can be difficult, most textbooks do not focus on that part of learning another language. I like to start with Mad-libs, funny word substitutions. This allows students to have fun with the language and slips in a lesson on the importance of word choice. My big tip is to celebrate originality and learning language learned outside the classroom as much as using correct grammar. We want to show students they can use the language they have learned and can make their own sentences. They don’t just have to rely on the sentence patterns they drill in class.

I always base the Madlibs on whatever the lessons content is, so even while being silly we are practicing and using the lessons language. An example would be:

“Tim is going to the ___ because he wants to eat ___ .”  

Student One will pick the location, say library, then Student Two pick the object, say books. That gives us the sentence:

  “Tim is going to the library because he wants to eat books .”

The grammar is correct, the vocabulary is in its correct place but the meaning is silly, so everyone gets a laugh.

5. Shared Writing

Amira Shouma – Amira is a certified ESL teacher in Quebec and Ontario. She is also currently an MA graduate student in Applied Linguistics at Concordia University.

I found the article “Activities for Writing Instruction” by Sharon M. Abbey a good resource for teachers in their writing classes. The author offered various activities to activate students’ sense of writing, including shared writing. With shared writing, the teacher teaches students writing by writing with them. The process of writing starts with brainstorming ideas in a shared writing session. For example, at the beginning of the session, a teacher can establish the purpose of the shared writing session with his/her students. Then, he/she brainstorms ideas with the group. Next, the teacher selects one of the ideas and invites students to develop it. At the time of composition, the teacher and students start writing together. Finally, the teacher and his/her students revise their text together. Shared writing helps students gain their confidence, build their motivation, and also enrich their ideas. 

6. Alternate Endings

Anna Klis is an experienced English teacher and has worked for several renowned language schools. She holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Wroclaw and a bachelor’s degree in Film Production from the University of Wales, Great Britain.

Students (at least intermediate level) are asked in advanced by a teacher to watch a famous/popular film (or choose a  chapter from a well-known book) and choose one important and meaningful scene. At home they prepare a short description of a continuation of the scene but the way they want it to be, so that it is completely different from the original, and they work on a new version that would possibly lead to a different ending. When working on such a piece of writing students are supposed to use newly-learned grammar and/or vocabulary structures to practice them. Then during the lesson they can guess the alternate endings or compare their versions to decide which one is the best and how it fits the original story.

7. Writing with the Senses

Rachel Playfair – Rachel is a teacher-trainer and language coach working in Barcelona, Spain.

From time to time I like to use a short writing activity as a ‘Warm-Down’ end of class activity to help balance the ‘Warm-Up’ oral activities I do. One of my favourite ones is “Respond With Your Senses”: I will give students a sensory prompt (i.e. show them a picture, play them some music, put an object in a bag that they can’t see and let them feel it, let them smell something like peppermint extract), then students do free-writing about the prompt for about 3-5 minutes, depending on their level. I can also use the prompts to preview or review classroom topics. For further creative and/or collaborative writing activities, I will then put students together into small groups to combine and develop their paragraphs, which we can then share together or put up on the classroom wall. This activity can be adapted to a wide range of levels and ages as long as you make sure they have had previous vocabulary input. 

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Creativity and Innovation in the Writing Classroom

Learn more about how to teach creativity and innovation along with, and as an important part of, traditional writing and research skills.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” —Maya Angelou

Creativity is fundamental to the teaching of writing. Although WR 153 focuses specifically on creativity and innovation, all WR courses ask students to approach their reading, viewing, writing, and research in creative ways. One important approach to creativity is “design thinking,” which emphasizes that creativity is a non-linear, iterative process. Design thinking is based on two foundational assumptions:

• Everyone can be creative.
• Creativity can be taught.

The principles of design thinking can be used in any WR course to teach students that creativity is a process of asking questions, using multiple strategies and approaches in answering those questions, taking risks in conceiving and executing original work, developing and refining ideas in response to feedback, and learning from productive failure. The metacognitive aspects of design thinking invite students to think about their own creative processes and identify factors that promote creativity.

Although WR 153 is structured by the steps of the design process (understand, empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test, assess/reflect), all WR courses can benefit from incorporating elements of design thinking and an emphasis on creativity and innovation. Approaching writing instruction in this way can:

• Increase student engagement by focusing on creative responses to problems that students care about;
• Give students a sense of agency as a result of greater choice in what to write and how to write about it;
• Encourage taking intellectual risks and reward productive failure as a means of learning;
• Help students develop skills that are transferrable to other academic situations and their professional lives; and
• Enhance students’ personal lives by allowing them to learn about themselves and their own creative potential.

Principles of Design Thinking

Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative approach to creativity that involves between three and seven steps. Although it is based on theories of design practice that go back to the early twentieth century, it has most recently been popularized by the design firm IDEO and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, commonly known as the d.school. The process involves understanding the issues involved in a design project, empathizing with the audience for an end product, defining the scope of the project, generating ideas for and creating prototypes of the product, testing and assessing those ideas and prototypes, and revisiting the steps of the design process until a final product is created.

The complete set of seven steps can be applied to the writing process in a WR course:

Understand: Students develop a foundation for their work by exploring issues and approaches relevant to the course topic, as well as previous work in the field.

Empathize: Students practice empathy by demonstrating their awareness and understanding of the audience for whom they write or create.

Define: Based on their observations and insights, students articulate a problem or question that will motivate their work over the course of the semester.

Ideate: Students generate new ideas and possible solutions by challenging assumptions and engaging in a variety of creative activities.

Prototype: Students start to create solutions and implement their ideas into written, digital or other forms in order to capture ideas, but also redefine choices.

Test: Students share drafts with others in order to gain feedback and insight into improving final versions.

Assess/Reflect: Students reflect on and evaluate their peers’ and their own processes and final outcomes.

The steps of the design thinking process are not meant to be followed in a rigid way. They should be flexible and customizable to the particular project: students may need to define, ideate, and prototype multiple times and in various modes/genres before they are ready to create a final draft. The skills students gain in going though these steps should be transferrable to other projects and courses.

Learn more about design thinking:

• “What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular?” by Rikke Friis Dam and Teo Yu Siang provides an overview of design thinking.
• David Kelly of IDEO explains the history of design thinking in “How to Design Breakthrough Inventions,” an interview with 60 Minutes .
• “How to Solve Problems Like a Designer,” which includes an interview with Tim Brown of IDEO, explains the basic principles of design thinking.

Understand and Empathize

The first step of the design process asks students to understand not only the course material, but also the resources necessary for their particular project. Since this usually involves additional reading/viewing, the “understand” step is part of the research and information literacy component of WR15X. Assignments that focus on this step may include conducting library or online research, categorizing research material using BEAM/BEAT, and creating annotated bibliographies.

Define, Ideate, and Prototype

Before they begin the process of generating ideas, it is often useful for students to define, at least in a preliminary way, what question or problem their paper/project is addressing. Assignments that help students define their projects may include questionnaires that ask students to state what they intend to work on and why, as well as more formal paper/project proposals.

In the IDEO design process, the goal of ideation is to generate a multitude of ideas without rejecting those that may seem impractical or even silly. Ideas can be rejected later, after a sufficient number of ideas have been generated. The most common ideation assignment involves various forms of brainstorming, often in teams. Ideas should be written down in some way, such as on sticky notes or index cards. To encourage divergent thinking in the brainstorming process, consider posting some fundamental principles in the classroom, such as these from IDEO:

• Defer judgment.
• Encourage wild ideas.
• Stay focused on the topic.
• Build on the ideas of others .

In the IDEO design process, prototypes are models that can be easily revised and even discarded if necessary. Prototypes for writing courses might include outlines, storyboards, slide decks, oral or video presentations, and preliminary drafts. Prototypes should be tested and assessed in some way that allows for reconsideration and revision before students turn in their final products.

Learn more about brainstorming and prototyping:

• “What is Brainstorming?” by Rikke Friis Dam and Teo Yu Siang provides helpful information and ideas for the ideation step of the design process.
• This example of “Brainstorming at IDEO” shows one popular way of brainstorming with sticky notes.

Test and Assess/Reflect

The final steps of the design process, testing and assessing/reflecting, are not meant to be the final steps in completing a student’s paper/project. After testing and assessing a prototype, students will likely need to reconsider and revise their papers/projects, which will take them back to earlier steps—they may need to conduct further research, generate additional ideas, or refine their prototypes. The design process is meant to be iterative, with students returning to steps in the process as needed until they have completed a final draft.  

Just as designers test their prototypes, students should test drafts of their papers/projects by sharing them with others. Assignments that focus on this step usually involve workshopping with one or more peers, but testing may also include making an oral or video presentation to the class, meeting with the professor or a writing tutor, or sharing the student’s work with any other reader/viewer capable of providing feedback. Students may also test their papers/projects using techniques such as reverse outlining to assess the strength and clarity of their arguments.

The final step in the design process, assessing the student’s work, may lead back to any earlier step as students come to understand what they still need to work on to complete their papers/projects. This step may also involve the broader metacognitive task of reflecting on the student’s creative process. Assignments that focus on this step may include a variety of reflective exercises, including a final reflection for the course.

A Note on Assessment

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” —Samuel Beckett

Because WR 153 courses can include such a wide range of papers and project, contract grading is recommended. Other WR courses that incorporate creativity and innovation may also wish to use contract grading, either for specific assignments or the course as a whole. More information on contract grading can be found here .

An important component of creativity and innovation is productive failure. We learn to create new things or develop new skills by failing and trying again until we succeed. Productive failure is failure that leads to new knowledge, insight, or innovation. Courses that focus on creativity can encourage productive failure by requiring prototypes that will be reconsidered and revised extensively, asking students to share examples of failure as valuable learning experiences, and assigning reflective work on how students have grown through failure over the course of the semester.

Learn more about productive failure:

Both readings below argue for the importance of productive failure. The Burger article contains specific examples of how to validate and reward productive failure in the classroom.

• “Next Time, Fail Better” by Paula M. Krebs, The Chronicle of Higher Education , May 11, 2012.

Further Reading

The quickest and easiest way to understand design thinking is to start with videos that explain the concept, where it originated, and how it can be used to address a variety of problems.

• In “How to Design Breakthrough Inventions,” David Kelly of IDEO and the Stanford d.school talks about design thinking in an interview on 60 Minutes and CBS This Morning .
• In “How to Solve Problems Like a Designer,” Vox provides a general overview of design thinking, featuring IDEO CEO Tim Brown.

If you would like to deepen your understanding of design thinking, there are a number of websites that address the concept in greater detail.

IDEO is a design and consulting firm that popularized the concept of design thinking. According to IDEO’s website, “Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which is known as design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.” The IDEO website has a number of useful resources on design thinking:

• A definition of design thinking .
• A brief history of design thinking .

IDEO U, the educational arm of IDEO, has a separate website that contain more information on design thinking as well as additional resources.

• What is design thinking?
• Resources related to design thinking .
• An overview of brainstorming .
• Resources related to innovation .

The Interactive Design Foundation provides useful information on design thinking on its website. According to “What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular?” by Rikke Friis Dam and Teo Yu Siang, “Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is a way of thinking and working as well as a collection of hands-on methods.” This article describes the basic concept of design thinking and five basic steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test.

Books on design thinking are generally aimed toward a popular audience. They draw on anecdotal evidence rather than research to support their claims, but they can be valuable resources for understanding how design thinking is applied in a variety of settings, including both corporations and the educational sector. To provide a sense of how design thinking developed over time, these books are listed chronologically:

• The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelly, Doubleday, 2001.
• Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown, HarperCollins, 2009, revised and updated 2019.
• Design Thinking: Understanding How Designers Think and Work by Nigel Cross, Bloomsbury, 2011.
• Design Thinking: A Guide to Creative Problem Solving for Everyone by Andrew Pressman, Routledge, 2018.
• The Design Thinking Toolbox: A Guide to Mastering the Most Popular and Valuable Innovation Methods by Michael Lewrick, Patrick Link, and Larry Leifer, Wiley, 2020.

Resources on design thinking in writing pedagogy:

If you would like to focus specifically on how the design thinking process relates to writing pedagogy, there are number of academic articles that address design thinking in the writing classroom as well as the larger issue of creativity as it relates to composition. To provide a sense of how the scholarship on creativity and design thinking in writing pedagogy developed over time, these articles are listed chronologically:

• “The Cognition of Discovery: Defining a Rhetorical Problem” by Linda Flower and John R. Hayes, College Composition and Communication 31.1 (1980), 21-32.
• “Process Paradigms in Design and Composition: Affinities and Directions” by Charles Kostelnick, College Composition and Communication 40.3 (1989), 267-81.
• “Wicked Problems in Design Thinking” by Richard Buchanan, Design Issues 8.2 (1992), 5-21.
• “Design and the New Rhetoric: Productive Arts in the Philosophy of Culture” by Richard Buchanan. Philosophy & Rhetoric 34 (2001), 183-206.
• “From Analysis to Design: Visual Communication in the Teaching of Writing” by Diana George, College Composition and Communication 54.1 (2002), 11-39.
• “Embracing Wicked Problems: The Turn to Design in Composition Studies” by Richard Marback, College Composition and Communication 61.2 (2009), 397-419.
• “Design as a Unifying Principle: English Departments in a New Media World” by Maureen Goldman, Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal 5.3 (2011), 249-257.
• “Sustainability as a Design Principle for Composition: Situational Creativity as a Habit of Mind” by Matthew Newcomb, College Composition and Communication 63.4 (2012), 593-615.
• “Design Thinking: Past, Present, and Possible Futures” by Ulla Johansson-Sköldberg et al., Creativity and Innovation Management 22.2 (2013), 121-146.
• “Writing in Design Thinking: Deconstructing the Question of Being” by Tassoula Hadjiyanni and Stephanie Zollinger, International Journal of Architectural Research 7.1 (2013), 116-127.
• Design Thinking and the Wicked Problem of Teaching Writing by Carrie S. Leverenz, Computers and Composition 33 (2014), 1-12.
• “What Can Design Thinking Offer Writing Studies?” by James P. Purdy, College Composition and Communication 65.4 (2014), 612-641.
• “Wicked Problems in Technical Communication” by Chad Wickman, Journal of Technical Communication 44 (2014), 23-42.
• “The UnEssay: Making Room for Creativity in the Composition Classroom” by Patrick Sullivan, College Composition and Communication 67.1 (2015), 6-34.
• “Design Thinking Via Experiential Learning: Thinking Like an Entrepreneur in Technical Communication Courses” by Jennifer Bay et al . , Programmatic Perspectives 10.1 (2018), 172-200.
• “Dissensus, Resistance, and Ideology: Design Thinking as a Rhetorical Methodology” by April Greenwood et al., Journal of Business and Technical Communication 33.4 (2019), 400-424.
• “Using Design Thinking to Teach Creative Problem Solving in Writing Courses” by Scott Wible, College Composition and Communication 71.3 (2020), 399-425.

General resources on creativity:

If you are interested in resources that focus on the larger issue of creativity, one place to start is with videos that define what creativity is and how it can be cultivated, including in an academic setting.

• Ken Robinson’s “What is Creativity” addresses the general issue of how we can both define and encourage creativity.
• Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Your Elusive Creative Genius” offers one way to think about creativity and deal with fear of failure.
• David Kelly’s “How to Build Your Creative Confidence” discusses how we can be more confident in our creativity and build creative confidence in others.

There are a number of books that focus more generally on creativity. Some of these books are theoretical, while some focus practically on how we can become more creative in work and life. The books by Tom and David Kelly, and by Sarah Stein Greenberg, approach creativity from the design thinking paradigm used at the Stanford d.school.

• Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, HarperPerennial, 1996.
• The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity , edited by James C. Kaufman and Robert J. Sternberg, Cambridge University Press, 2003, revised and updated 2019.
• The International Handbook of Creativity , edited by James C. Kaufman and Robert J. Sternberg Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Developing Creativity in Higher Education: An Imaginative Curriculum , edited by Norman Jackson, Martin Oliver, Malcolm Shaw, and James Wisdom, Routledge, 2006.
• Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom Kelly and David Kelly, HarperCollins, 2013.
• Habits of the Creative Mind: A Guide to Reading, Writing, and Thinking , by Richard E. Miller and Ann Jurecic, Macmillan, 2015, revised and updated 2020.
• Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways by Sarah Stein Greenberg, Ten Speed Press, 2021.

The following books are listed separately because they reflect creative practices in specific fields, such as creative writing, the visual arts, and dance. They contain ideas and exercises that are transferrable to writing classes and may be helpful in designing WR courses.

• The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron, Tarcher/Putnam, 1992, reissued 2002.
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott, Anchor Books, 1994.
• The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp, Simon & Schuster, 2003.
• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon, Workman Publishing Company, 2012.
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert, Riverhead Books, 2015.
• You Are an Artist: Assignments to Spark Creation by Sarah Urist Green, Penguin, 2020.

• How to write a story
• How to write a novel
• How to write poetry
• Dramatic writing
• How to write a memoir
• How to write a mystery
• Creative journaling
• Publishing advice
• Story starters
• Poetry prompts
• For teachers

Creative Writing Activities and Games

1) free-writing:, 2) group stories:, 3) found poetry treasure hunt:, 4) class blog:, 5) criticism-free sharing:, more resources.

• You’ll find additional teaching ideas and creative writing activities in Linda Leopold Strauss’s book, Drop Everything and Write! An Easy, Breezy Guide for Kids Who Want to Write a Story.
• You'll find a complete creative writing syllabus with lesson plans you can use on the main Teaching Resources page .

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